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The history of Winchelsea 



William Durrant Cooper 



15r 524^. S6 



Darvar^ Colleoe liDrar)? 




FROM THE 

J. HUNTINGTON WOLCOTT 

FUND 

GIVEN BY ROGER WOLCOTT [CLASS 
OF 1870] IN MEMORY OF HIS FATHER 
FOR THE « PURCHASE OF BOOKS OF 
PERMANENT VALXnS,THE PREFERENCE 
TO BE GIVEN TO WORKS OF HISTORY, 
POLITICALECONOMY AND SOCIOLOGY" 



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THE HISTORY 



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inc^tl^tn, 



ONE OF THE 



ANCIENT TOWNS 



ADDED TO 



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WILLIAM DURRANT COOPER, F.S.A. 



LONDON : 

JOHN RUSSELL SMITH, OLD COMPTON STREET, SOHO. 

HASTINGS : 

HENRY OSBORNE, 65, GEORGE STREET. 

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VKIKTKD BY HENRY ORBORNK, 55, OEOEGK STREET, (v \ 

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i 



PREFACE. 



The maxitime importance of Winchelsea, from the days of 
the Conqueror to the close of the 15th Century, made it de- 
sirable to have a more extended history than is to be found 
in any work relating to Sussex or to the Cinque Ports : and 
the publications of the Sussex Archaeological Society appeared 
to be the best mode of recording the paiticulars hitherto 
unpublished. 

The following pages owe their origin to that Society. ThiB 
materials, however, were too numerous to carry out my 
first intention ; and a separate work is the result. 

Many of the MSS. now printed are very interesting : the 
list of the owners of all the houses at the foundation of the 
new town, temp. Edw. I, and the accounts of the town, so 
early as 1388, are, I believe, peculiar to Winchelsea; and it 
is hoped that the entire work will be found worthy of the 
extensive support it has received. 

My warmest thanks are due to Sir Edward Cholmeley 
Bering, Bart., and to the Rev. Lambert B. Larking, through 
whose kindness a free use was granted of the valuable collec- 
tion of Dering MSS.; and to Richard Stileman, Esq., 
William Holloway, Esq., and the Rev. Thomas W. Richards, 
for the aid, which their MSS. afforded. 

To E. N. Dawes, Esq., the town clerk of Winchelsea; to 
J. B. Freeland, Esq., secretary to the Bishop of Chichester; 
and to J. G. Shorter, Esq., town clerk of Hastings, my ac- 
knowledgments are tendered for the information they 
severally furnished from the documents in their custody : 
whilst much of the completeness of the work is owing to the 



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IV PREFACE. 



facilities for consulting the public records, deposited in the 
Tower and at Carlton House Ride, most courteously rendered 
by Thomas DuflSis Hardy, Esq., the Rev. Joseph Hunter, 
and Walter Nelson, Esq. 

From W. H. Blaauw, Esq., George Slade Butler, Esq., 
the Rev. William Clarke, T. W. King, Esq., York Herald, 
M. A. Lower, Esq., J. Phillips, Esq., and Mr. S. Putland, jun., 
I have also received important assistance. 

For a large addition to the illustrations I am indebted to 
the liberality of the Sussex Archaeological Society, and of 
Richard Dawes, Esq., George Dawes, Esq., W. J. Denne, 
Esq., Mellor Hetherington, Esq., and Richard Stileman, Esq.; 
and the kind consideration of Mr. W. E. Baxter has enabled 
me to use several blocks of arms. 

W. D. C. 



81, Guilford St, Russell Sq., London^ 
15th August^ 1850. 



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SUBSCRIBERS. 



His Grace the Duke of Norfolk,E.M., 

Pres. Sus. Arch. Society (4 copies) 
The Bight Rev. the Lord Bishop of 

Chichester (2 copies) 
Sir Henry ElHs, K.H., F.KS., Sec. 

S.A., British Museum 
Mr. Robert Alee, Rye 
Mr. T. Arkcoll, jun., GuestHne 
W. W. Attree, Esq., Recorder of 

Hastings, Temple 
John T. Auckland, Esq., Lewes 
Mr. Ball, Hastings 
Mr. Joseph Bannister, 4, White 

Rock Place, Hastings 
Mr. William Edwin Baxter, Sussex 

Express Office, Lewes (2 copies) 
Chas. Beard, Es^., Rottingdean 
William Beckwith, Esq., Seacock's 

Heath House, Hawkhurst 
John Blaker, jun., Esq., Lewes 
Edgar Blaker, Esq., Lewes 
W. H. Blaauw, Esq., F.S.A., Sec. 

Sus. Arch. Soc, Beechlands 
R. W. Blencowe, Esq., the Hooke, 

H. J. Bolding, Esq., 27, Tokenhouse 

Yard 
Miss Bonnick, Hallaway Place, 

Hastings 
Mr. E. Bowmer, Hastings 
Edward Lennox, Boyd, Esq., 8, 

Waterloo Place, London 
Mr. B. Breeds, Hastings 
Sir C. M. Burrell, M.P., 5, Richmond 

Terrace, White HaU 
Alfred Burton, Esq., St. Leonards 
George Slade Butler, Esq., Rye 
Rev. H. B. W. Churton, M.A., Preb. 

of Chichester, Icklesham 
Rev. W. Clarke, M.A., Winchelsea 
Mr. G. Clement, Silverhill, Hastings 
The Rev. H. Cooper, B.D., Vicar of 

Rye 
Frederick Cooper, Esq., Arundel 

(4 copies) 
The Rev. William Henry Cooper, 

M.A., 44, Sussex Square, Kemp 

Town, Brighton 
H. E. G. Coo^T, Esq., Trinity Col 

lege, Cambridge 
Rev. Thomas Curteis, Sevenoaks 
Mrs. John Daniel, Rye 
Rev. Wm. Davis, Hastings 
Arthur Davis, Esq., Depuord, Kent 



Mr. Davies, Winchelsea 

Mrs. Davies, Winchelsea 

Thomas Dawes, Esq., Winchelsea 
(4 copies) 

Richara Dawes, Esq., Camberwell 
(4 copies) 

George Dawes, Esq., Perry Rise, 
Sydenham (4 copies) 

Edwin Nath. Dawes, Esq., Rye, 
(2 copies) 

E. S. Dendy, Esq., Rouge Dragon, 
Arundel 

W. J. Denne, Esq., 6, Lower Berke- 
ley Street 

Miss Mary Julia Denne, Hythe 

Miss A. M. Denne, Dover 

Mr. Develin, Hastings 

Thos. Dicker, Esq., Southover, Lewes 

Mr. William Dobell, Hastings 

Mr. Henry Dunk, High Street, 
Hastings 

Frederick EUman, Esq., Battle 

Lt Col. EUwood, Clayton Priory, 
Hurstperpoint 

Mr. James Emary, Albion Hotel, 
Hastings 

George J. Eyre, Esq., 11, Bedford 
Row, Lonaon 

George Fielder, Esq., Doctor's Com- 
mons 

W. W.Fisher, Esq., 3, King Street, 
Cheapside (2 copies) 

William Forster,E8q.,M.A., 4, Carey 
Street, Lincoln's Lon 

Alexander Forsyth, Esq., 47, Moor- 
gate Street 

James Bennett Freeland, Esq., Chi- 
chester 

Charles Hay Frewen, Esq., M.P., 
Cold-Overton, Leicestershire 

Mr. Walter Fuller, Winchelsea 

George Edward Gatty, Esq., Crow- 
hurst 

Charles Gibbon, Esq., Richmond 
Herald, Yapton, Arundel 

Mr. W. Ginner, Hastings 

Mr. Gk>dson, Twickenluun 

Mr. Goodwin, Hasting 

Mr. J. Golding, Hastings 

George Gray, Esq., High Street, 
Hastings 

John Grenside, Esq., 34, Wellington 
Square, Hastings 

Joseph, Gwilt, Esq., F.S.A., London 



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VI 



SUBSCRIBERS. 



Miss Harrod, Winchelsea 

Mr. W. T. Harrod, Winchelsea 

Mrs. Haire, Lewes 

Mr. William Harvey, Lewes 

Lieut. Hennah, Winchelsea 

Mellor Hetherington, Esq^., Oak 

Lodge, Woodford (2 copies) 
Charles Hickes, Esq., Rye 
Mr. Hide, Hastings 
H. R. Hoare, Esq., Framfield 
John Hollihs, Esq., A.R.A., 47, Ber- 

ner's Street 
. Robert Hollond, Esq., M.A., M.P., 

Allegria, St. Leonards 
Mrs. Robert HoUond, 63, Portland 

Place 
The Rev. Dr. Holland, Precentor of 

Chichester 
William Holloway, Esq., Rye 
Mr .J. Holt, Parish Clerk, Wmchelsea 
Mr. George Curling Hope, Hastings 
Mr. J. C. Hunter, Queen's Road, 

Dalston 
Mrs. Hunt, Portland Place 
J. H. Hurdis, Esq., Newick 
Rev. A. Hussey, M.A., Rottingdean 
Mr. Walter Inskipp, Hasting 
Miss Jackson, 11, Pavilion Parade, 

Brighton 
Lt. Col. Basil Jackson, Croydon 
W. M. James, Esq., 34, Gloucester 

Place (3 copies) 
Mr. Edward J enner, Lewes 
Mr. J. Jolly, Hastings 
W. Polhill Kell, Esq., Lewes 
Henry Lake, Esq., Lincoln's Inn 
Alfred Lanj^ord, Esq., Lewes 
Frederick Langford, Esq., Udimore 

(3 copies) 
Mrs. Frederick Langford, Udimore 
William Langford, Esq., 69, Friday 

Street, Cheapside 
Nicholas Lockyer, Esq., Princess 

Square, Plymouth 
Mark Antony Lower, Esq., M.A., 

Lewes 
Mr. Reuben William Lower, Lewes 
Charles Lushington, Esq., M.P., 

Palace Gardens, Bayswater 
P.T. Mac Cabe, Esq., M.D., Wel- 
lington Square, Hastings 
Major Mc Queen, 1, Douro Villa, 

Cheltenham 
Mr. T. Mann, Hastings 



Frederick Marrable, Esq., Rutland 
Gate, Hyde Park 

Lt CoL T. Marten, 1st Royal Dra- 
goon Guards (2 copies) 

Hubert Martineau, 1^., London 

John Phillip Martineau, Esq., 29, 
Montague Place 

R. Mercer, Esq., Sedlescombe 

Lewis M. Meryon, Esq., St Mary- 
axe 

Sir S. B. P. Micklethwaite, Bart., 
Lidge Place 

Frederick Mildred, Esq., St Nicho- 
las' Lane (2 copies) 

Mr. E. Miller, Hailsham 

Mr. Molland, 32, Bu^e Row, 

William Monkhouse, Esq., Thur- 
lowe Square, Brompton 

Mr. Morgan, George ot, Hastings 

Arthur Morgan, Esq., F.R.S., New 
Bridge Street, BlackMars 

Cadogan Morgan, Esq., Temple 

Lewis Richar£ Morgan, Esq., Brjii 
Elwy, St Asaph 

Lt Col. George Mutdebury, C.B., 
K.W., London 

Richard Nation, Esq., Somerset 
Street, Portman Square 

Sir Robert Newman, Bart., Mam- 
head 

Miss Newman, Mamhead 

Mrs. Orme, Wyndham Place 

Frederick Ouvrv, Esq., F.S.A., 13, 
Tokenhouse Yard 

The Rev. John Parkin, M.A., Halton 
Parsonage, Hastings 

John Pepys, Esq., Harley Street, 
London 

Edmund Pepys, Esq., 7, Upper 
Harley Street 

John Phillips, Esq., High Street, 
Hastings 

Mr. Edward Pierce, St. Leonards 

Mr. J. Plane, Hastings 

R. C. Pomfret, Esq., Rye 

Miss Pomfret, Tenterden 

Mr. William Powell, 12, Ladbroke 
Villas, Notting Hill, London 

The Rev. Wilfiam Powell, M.A., 
Newick 

Walter Prideaux, Esq., 38, Baker 
Street 

Robert Proctor, Esq., Holyport, 
Berks 



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SUBSCRIBERS. 



Vll 



The Rev. George Proctor, D.D., 
Rector of HacUey 

Mr. Stephen Putland, London Road, 
St. Leonards 

Rev. George D. St. Quintin, M.A., 
Marina, St. Leonards 

W. Ramsden, Esq., Rye 

Mr. Wm. Ransom, jun., Hastings 

Anthony Rich, jun., Esq., B.A., 68, 
Cambridge Street 

E. L. Richards, Esq., Bryn Elwy 
House, St Asaph, Judge of the 
N.E. Wales County Court (3 
copies) 

Rev. James Richards, M.A., Hum- 
wick, Bishop Auckland 

Rev. T. WalUs Richards, M.A., Sid. 
Coll. Cam., Holbeach 

Mr. James Rock, jun., Hastings 

Mr. Ruck, Winchelsea 

Mrs. Sanders, Blackheath (4 copies) 

Thomas Sanders, Esq., M.A., 37i 
Guilford Street 

G. Scrivens, Esq., Mayor of Hast- 
ings 

Mr. Seaman, Hastings 

Mr. John Sharps, 'mnchelsea 

J. G. Shorter, Esq., Town Clerk of 
Hastings 

Miss Simmons, Icklesham 

Miss Slater, Newick Park, Uckfield 

W. R. Smee, Esq., Bank of England 

Jeremiah Smith, Esq., Mayor of 
Rye (2 copies) 

Thomas Smith Pix, Esq., Broomhill 
Lodge, Rye (2 copies) 

Mr. John Smith, Hastings 

Mr. Albert Smith, Rye 

Francis Spilsbury, Esq., London 

Mr. Stevenson, Hastings (2 copies) 

F. C. Stileman, Esq., Friars, Win- 
chelsea 

Richard Stileman, Esq., Eastbourne 
Terrace (2 copies) 



Robert C. Stileman, Esq., East- 
bourne Terrace 

Wm. Curteis Stileman, Esq., East- 
bourne Terrace 

The Misses Stileman, Friars, Win- 
chelsea (3 copies) 

William Stringer, Esq., Town Clerk 
of New Ronmey 

Mr. R. Styles, Hastings 

Edward Swaine, Esq., Gomersal 

Mr. G. A. Thorpe; George Street, 
Hastings 

Frederic Ticehurst, Esq., Hastings 

Rev. M. A. Tiemey, Arundel 

W. B. D. TumbuU, Esq., Edinburgh 

The Rev. Edward Turner, M.A., 
Maresfield 

Mrs. Edmund Vallance, 2, Queen's 
Road East, Brighton 

Miss Gertrude Vallance, 2, Queen's 
Road, Brighton 

Rev. E. Venables, Hurstmonceux 

Mr. J. Walton, London 

Mr. Warrington, Strand 

Albert Way, Esq., F.S.A., Wonham, 
Reigate 

Rev. J. J. West, M.A., Winchelsea 

Mr. Weston, Hastings 

John Thomas Wharton, Esq., M.A , 
Skelton Castle 

Thos. Whitfield, Esq., Hamsey, 
Lewes 

Henry Whitmarsh, Esq., Rye 

Mrs. Wilford, Lower Berkeley Street 

Lt. Col. Williams, R.E., Ramsgate 

John Williams, Esq., Brighton 
(2 copies) 

Mr. J. Woods, Hastings 

Mrs. Woodhams, Cleveland House, 
Winchelsea 

Mr. C. J. Womersley, Hastings 

Mr. W. L. Yates, Hastings 

Wm. B. Young, Esq., Hastings 



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DIRECTIONS TO BINDER. 



PLATE 

' I. Map of Town .... 

- II. Strand Gate and New Gate 

III. Strand Gate, N.E., and Pipewell Gate 

lY. The Friars' Hoiue, West 

. V. The Church of St. Thomas 

• VI. Tomb of Gerrase Alard 

"' VII. The Gray Friars* Chapel (1787) 

' VIII. The Friars' House, East (old and new) 

-IX. Camber Castle (1787) 

X. Map of St. Leonards 

XI. Town Seal .... 





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ANCIENT WINCHELSEA. 



Site. — ^Thc site of the first town of Winclielsea was a low 
flat island, situate at the south eastern extremity of the county 
of Sussex, about six nules north east of Fairlight cliff, three 
miles S.E. by E. of the hiU on which Modem Winchelsea 
stands, two miles S.S.E. of the eminence which forms the 
town of Rye, and seven miles S.W. from Old Ronmey, in 
Kent. In the earliest times, the face of the district was very 
different to its .present state: the town of Bye was a bare 
insulated rock ; the hill of Higham was surrounded by wal or 
on all sides, except the south, — ^the waters flowed below 
Udimore up to Brede in one level, and to Appledore, and 
indeed, close to Tenterden, in the other level, — ^whilst in the 
tune of the Romans, the groimd, on which Old Ronmey is now 
built, had just made its head above the waters. Jeake described 
Old Winchelsea as washed by the British ocean on the south 
and east, and by the mouth of the river Rother, (then running 
out there) on the north. The old town was separated, there- 
fore, from most of the above-mentioned localities by a wide 
waste of waters, and the path to it on every side, save the 
west, was over a large estuary. 

Whether the town existed at the time of the Roman Con- 
quest, is matter of doubt. Camden does not lay it down in 
his maps of Roman or even of Saxon Britain : in his map of 
Sussex he gives it under the Roman name of Vindelis,^ with 
the addition of "Old Winchelsey drowned;" but that name 
would be more corredjly given to the isle of Portland. 

^ Butler, in his Atlas of Ancient Britain, also gives this as the site of 
Vindelis. 

1 



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2 ANCIENT WINCHELSEA. 

Jeake tells us/ that it was reported ^^by Johnson in his atlas, 
to have been a city in the time of the Romans." In Gough's 
edition of Camden, and ia the map of Ancient Britain, pub- 
lished by the Society for Diffiising Useful Knowledge, the 
harbour is given as Portus novus. The spot on which the old 
to^\Ti stood is accurately marked in the map given by Dug- 
dale in his History of Embanking. The bearings indicate a 
place immediately on the east side of the east pier head of 
Rye harbour, constituting the Camber farm estate, which is in 
the parish of St. Thomas, Winchelsea, and must, therefore, 
have been the site, or adjoining the site of the original town. 
Nor den, in his preface to the History of Cornwall, published in 
1724, says, "the ruias thereof now lie under the waves three 
miles within the high sea." Tradition gives the same site ; 
and report has spoken of ruins there found. A survey of the 
bay of Rye, however, has not brought any such to light ; and 
the better opinion seems to be, that the ground, which was 
submerged at the latter part of the 13th century began par- 
tially to reappear towards the end of the 15Ui or the beginning 
of the 16th, was gradually recovered and fenced in up to the 
close of the 17th century, and is now a fine rich alluvial soil.^ 

^Vhether the town did or did not exist in the time of the 
Romans, it was, assuredly, bxdlt and had become an important 
place in Saxon days. 

Name. — From the Saxon it derives its name.^ According 
to Somner, it comes from the Saxon words *^ Wincel," angu- 
lus, and " Ea," mare, and signifies a *^ waterish place, seated 
in a comer." Jeake, in a note, gives an old latin line 
of "Dover, Sandivicus, Ry, Rum: Frig:-mare ventus." It 

1 Charters 103. 

2 Mr. HoUoway has supplied us with a piece of black hard wood, or as 
it is here called " moor bog," taken in Jidy 1849, from a spot dry at low 
water mark, and which was, doubtless, part of Old Winchelsea. 

3 The name has been variously written, Winchelsee ; Winchelsey ; 
Wynchelse, in French ; 15 Rich. II, Wynchesie ; in 17th Rich. 11, Wyn- 
chclse } and the same in latin in 22 Hen. Ill, &c. 



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ANCIENT WINCHELSEA. 3 

is Kterally "Friget mare ventus," Wind-chils-sca. " Chil, aji 
old name," he adds, "yet in use for cold, and well might 
the old town deserve that name, standing in a low place 
open both to the winds and sea." Twine imagines it 
to have been written, originally, "Windchel8eum,"from its 
being exposed to the winds ; for so he adds, *' Olim vento 
frigori et ponto obnoxium, undeci nomen obvenit."^ Mr. 
HoUoway ^* agrees with all these in the general root of the 
name, but not in all the particulars ; he would give the name 
and interpretation, Winchelsea, Wind-cold-Island, or more 
properly Cold-wind-Island." 

Saxon Times. — It is not mentioned in the Saxon Chroni- 
cle, nor by name in Doomsday :* yet, according to Ruding, 
king Eadgar had a mint here (Wencles) in 959; and it was 
a town of sufficient importance in the time of Edward the 
Confessor, or St. Edward as he is called in the charter of Henry 
III, to be granted by him, together with the adjacent town of 
Rye, to the abbot and monks of Fischampe (vulgarly F^champ) 
in France ; to whom they were fiirther granted and conjQrmed 
by king William and king Henry, with their liberties, free 
customs, pleas, plaints, and causes. 

Doomsday. — The Abbot is described in Doomsday (1081- 
1086) to haveheld within the manor of Rameslie "five churches, 
producing 64s." These would include one in Rye, two in Old 
Winchelsea, St. Thomas and St. Giles, one in Brede, and the 
fifth St. Leonards, near Winchelsea, which was part of the 

^ Gibson's Additions to Camden, 1695. 

^ It is not strange that no mention is made in Doomsday of the towns 
of Winchelsea and Rye : that document was not, as is often erroneously 
supposed, a Record of all places and towns, it was an enumeration only of 
manors ; and in it are mentioned the manors of Stainings and Rameslie, 
in Sussex, which were held by the Abbey of Fechamp. At the dissolution 
of the alien Priories, they held the manors of Stening, Brede, Charlton, 
and Wormenhurst, in Sussex, together with the patronage of their 
churches, and the patronage of the church of St. Leonard, near Winchel- 
sea, and these possessions were granted to the newly founded Monastery 
of Syon. 



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4 ANCIENT WINCHELSEA. 

town and port of Hastings^ into which town the manor of 
Brede ran. There is also stated to have been within his 
possessions here^ ^^one hundred saltpans^ of eight pounds 
fifteen shillings," which would very readily be found in and 
about an island that lay in the midst of the salt waters ; they 
were long continued, for, in 1250, cottages for salt are specifi- 
cally mentioned as destroyed, and so late as 19 Henry VI, it is 
said that a great quantity of salt was then made on land which 
had been before of no value.^ Here were *^ seven acres of mea- 
dow and a wood, yieldiag pamiage for two hogs." There is 
great probability in the belief that Old Winchelsea was ad- 
joining on the west to a forest called Dymsdale, and that such 
forest extended, at intervals, beyond Hastings. Norden teUs 
us, that ^'the whole forest of Dymsdale, which lay round about 
this Old Winchelsea, is also eaten up of the sea." The rivulet 
Dimsdale flows firom the valley under Bromham, through 
Pett level, and passing under the Military canal, enters the 
Brede channel half a mile below Modem Winchelsea; and in 
an act of 3 Rich. II there is mentioned ^^ a certain way and 
marsh called Dynsdale, between the towns of Winchelsea 
and Hastings, which way and marsh, through neglect, were 
destroyed and overflowed by the sea." Near Pett, at low 
water, during spring tides, the remains of a wood may be seen 
embedded ia the sand, consisting of oak, beech, and fir, the 
former sound and nearly black; and on the whole line of this 
coast, wherever ditches and dykes have been cut in the marshes, 
the roots and limbs of forest trees have been met with in vast 
numbers. The Doomsday Record goes on to say, that "in this 
manor a new burgh is established, where are 64 burgesses 
^ payii^' £8, deduct 2s." Burgh implies a town having certain 
rights or privileges ; and the old town of Winchelsea is here 
plainly indicated, — ^it was the only new borough within the 
possessions of the Abbot of Fechamp, or within the hundred 

iPat. 19 Hen. 6, m. 19. 



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o 



ANCIENT WINCHEIjSEA. 6 

of Gestelingcs,^ and the number of the burgesses shows its 
size. 

Importance of Town. — Theportof Winchelsea was at the 
time of the Conquest, as it remained for centuries afterwards, a 
most convenient port for communication with France. Here, 
on 7th December, 1067, the Conqueror lai^ded, and by his 
sudden arrival, defeated the measures agreed upon by the 
English for shaking off the Norman yoke;* and here, a 
hundred and twenty years afterwards, on 80th January, 1188, 
the king, Henry II, having taken order, as Holinshed describes 
it, " for his business in the parts on the further side of the 
sea," coming over into England again, landed on a Saturday.' 
The old town was then of far more relative importance than 
Rye, or than the new town afterwards became. Norden 
says, that it was a town of great trade and accompt, hav- 
ing in it when it flourished 700 house-holders, and, that the 
new town in its highest prosperity, was of lesser glory than 
the former. The property must have been valuable, since, in 
1st John, (1199) James de Winchelsea gave Cs. to have such 
seizin of twelve acres of land as he recovered by assise of morte 
antecessoris, whereof he was afterwards disseized unjustly and 
without judgment.* In its neighbourhood was BromhiU or 
BroomhiU, also called in old deeds "Alcotch," which was then 
popidous. Camden says that it was well frequented; whilst 
Kilbume says it was anciently a pretty town and much resorted 
to : and an'bxtract from the Bering MSS., transcribed by Sir 

^ The descriptions cannot apply to Hastings or Rye, because Dooms- 
day expressly says that there were four burgesses in Hastings, yielding 
63 shillings to the manor of Bameslie, and that Bobert of Hastings held 
two hides and a half from the Abbot of Fechamp, who held Ran^esKe of 
the king, and Herolf half a hide: and Rye, which was not walleatill the 
time of Richard I, was not by its situation of the same local importance. 

* Burr. MSS. Addl. MSS. 6343. 
3 Ibid, No. 6343, fol. 140. 

* Rot. de Oblatis, p. 14. and Madox' Exch., vol. 1., p. 485. It seems 
originally to have been a dispute with Simon de Catesfield about 26a. of 
land. Rot. Cur. Regis., vol. 2, pp. 180 and 263. 



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6 ANCIENT WINCHELSEA. 

Wm. Bxirrell, informs us tkat "tradition will have it once had 
in it fifty inns and taverns." 

Added to Cinque Ports. — The old town of Winchelsea, 
together with the neighbouring town of Rye, was probably 
added to the Cinque Ports by William the Conqueror, as in 
confirming the grant of Old Winchelsea to the Abbot of 
Fischampe, he speaks of its liberties, free customs, &c.; and, as 
Henry II, Eichaxd I, and John granted charters to the men of 
Winchelsea and Rye, to be free of toll, &c., in other towns, as 
the five ports were: to be free from shires, hundreds, &c.: and 
not required to plead otherwise than as the Barons of Hastings 
and of the Cinque Ports were.^ Beyond all doubt, however, 
they were added before the time of King John, Tinder the 
style of '^nobiliora membra Quinque Portuum ;" for, in a 
record, dated 2nd May, in the first year of his reign, (1200) 
Winchelsea and Rye are mentioned to be in aid of Hastings 
to do the service of their navy.^ In the 6tfi year of his reign, 
the Quio^ime of the town was accounted for to the crown.^ 
In his charter of the following year, 6th June, 7th John (1205,) 
to the men of the two towns, he mentions and confirms to them 
the charters of his father, Henry II, who is elsewhere stated 
to have been seized of the town,* and of his brother Richard 
I; and on the 8th February, 9th John (1207-8,) there is a 
direct mention of Wiachelsea as one of the Ciaque Ports in 
the King's Commission,^ directed to Vincent de Hastings, 
Wimund de Winchelsea, and others of the barons of the Cinque 
Ports, to arrest all the ships that they should find. The two 
'^ ancient towns" of Winchelsea and Rye, have, from the time 
of their being added to the Cinque Ports down to the present 

1 The charters of Richard (referring to that of Henry) and of John, 
are recited at length in the Inspeximus : see Post, 7 Edw. 11. 

2 Jeake. In dors. cart. 1, R. Jo., par. 1, m. 12. Winchelsee et Rye 
quod debent esse m auxiliis ville de Hastings ad fac R. servicium 20 
Navium, &c. 

3 Lei. Coll., 134. * Madox' Firma Burgi, p. 8. 

5 Selden^s Dominion of the Sea, p. 350. 



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ANCIENT WINCHELSEA. 7 

day, enjoyed the same rights and privileges as the five 
original ports. Those rights^and privileges have been so often 
and so yf%}l given, especially by Mr.^Holloway, in his recent 
History of Rye, that we need not repeat them in this work. 

John. — In the troublous years of King John, and at the 
commencement of the 13th century. Old Winchelsea was in 
its greatest glory: it was in the enjoyment of all the privileges 
of the most important Cinque Ports ; it had Broomhill attached 
to it as a member ; its bay was the place of rendezvous for 
the fleets of England ; its own commerce was large ;^ its 
thirty-nine squares or quarters were well calculated to give it 
importance and to promote its wealth ; and its geographical 
position, directly opposite to Tr^port,and not far from the direct 
line to Boulogne, gave it such importance, that, after Philip 
of France, imder the auspices of the Pope, Innocent III, had, 
on 21st April, 1213, commanded a great army to assemble at 
Rouen, whence they were to march to Boulogne, where an 
armament of 1700 vessels was prepared to convey and guard 
them to England,' Kong John, who had collected a large army 
at Dover, left that place on Saturday, 27th April, came from 
Dover to Wiachelsea, and here remained to 1st of May.^ In 
1216 the Barons of England, irritated by the tyranny of king 
John, and menaced with the total loss of their liberties and 
property, offered to acknowledge Louis, the son of Philip, as 
Sovereign of England, on condition of his affording them pro- 
tection against the king ; and Philip, acceding to their request 
and the conditions required, sent over a large army with 
Louis at- their head. Louis conquered almost all places op- 
posed to him. Dover made a gallant resistance through 

^In John's reign twelve men of Portsmouth were summoned for 
allowing vessels to go out of their port without paying the fifteenth j and 
in giving their account of the three vessels which had so gone out, the 
Portsmouth men return that the third vessel was the "Jacob/* of Win- 
chelsea, which had brought 61 tons of wine, of the estimated value of 
three maxcs and a half. Cal : Rot : Orig : vol. 1, p, 94. 
2 Suss. Arch, Coll., vol. 2, p. 135. 



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5 ANCIENT WINCHELSEA. 

the valour and fidelity of Hubert de Burgh : but the serious 
fears entertained by the king for the safety of Winchelsea and 
its inhabitants, may be best learnt from the following writ of 
the king, dated 9th June, 1216,^ commanding the barons of 
Winchelsea rather to pay a ransom than allow their town to 
be burnt, should such be attempted by Louis. 

"De componendo cum Ludovico adversario Regis ne incendio 
TRADATUR VILLA DE WiNCHELSElA. Rex Baronibus de Winchelseia 
salutem. Si in propria persona sua descenderit ad villam nostram adver- 
sarius noster Ludowicus, ben^ concedimus, quod priusquam incendio 
tradatur villa nostra, vel dampnum magnum subeatis, ei censeriam 
ducentarium marcarum exhibeatis." Teste me ipso, apud Divis' ix. die 
Junii. 

Hollinshed declares that Louis took all the towns he at- 
tacked except Dover and Windsor. It is not recorded 
whether Winchelsea was attacked and resisted : there seems, 
however, much doubt whether it did follow the pusillanimous 
commands of the weak and wavering John. 

Henry III. — In the first year of the young King Henry 
III (1217,) it is expressly said, that the men of Winchelsea 
took an active share in the naval engagement of this year 
between the Cinque Ports' fleet, undqr Sir Hubert de Burgh, 
and the French under Robert de Courtney ; and it was to 
Winchelsea that the king's men of Ireland, who were on the 
coast of Normandy, were ordered to come in his service.^ 
That Eye did not surrender, but was captured, is certain. 
After the fatal battle of Lincoln, it is said, ^^ et tunc facte sunt 
truge inter juvenem regem et predictum Lodewycum, qui 
vero Lodewycum, captft viUS, de Rye in comitatu Sussexie, 
ibidem transfretavit."^ ''And then peace having been made 
between the young king and the said Louis, which same 
Louis having captured the town of Rye, sailed hence over the 

iRym. Feed., vol. 1, p. 142. Ed. 1816. 

2 Harris Nicolas' Hist, of the Royal Navy, vol. 1, p. 176. 

3 Camden Society's Publications. Hollowa/s Hist, of Rye. 



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ANCIEKT WIKCHSLSBA. 9 

seas." This is tlie first mention we haye met with of 
Bye being named as the place of laiicling or of embarkation, 
and not Winchelsea. 

The days of Winchelsea's prosperity were now coming to 
a close. During the first half of the ISth century, vay heayy 
storms are recorded to have taken place throughout the coasts 
of England ; and in 1236, when great torrents of rain fell 
during the months of January, February, and part of March, 
and the rivers overflowed their banks, the Thames broke 
into the Palace at Westminster, and persons crossmg West- 
minster Hall were forced to use a boat or go on horseback, 
the first intmdation on record in l3ie immediate vicinity of 
Winchelsea took place. In the accompt roll of the Archbishop 
of Canterbury, relating to the manor of Aldington, there is a 
payment of 41s. 4d. for the expenses of John de Walton, and 
the parson of Aldii^ton, for three day's expanses at Bumenal 
and Windielsea, and Appledore, together with die seneschal, 
to see to the saving of the marshes against the inundation 
of the sea.^ 

Arsenal and Lighthouse. — The harbour was not ma- 
terially injured by this storm. And in 1S40 there was here, as 
well as at Rye and Shoreham, an arsenal fer the king's 
galleys :^ and there was also a lighthouse which withstood 
the second inundation, since, on 80th January, 1261 ; there is 
a royal precept to pay the dues.' The town itself was also 
firee from any material injury. The iohabitants, who were 
under the foreign abbey, became troublesome to the king and 
to the English government, and in the 30th Hen. Ill (1246,) 
the men of Winchelsea and Rye paid ten casks of wine to 
the king for a contempt and trespass.* 

Jt was not against the king alone that these Cinque Forts 
committed trespasses and crimes : it is certain, from the 



1 Somner's Ports and Forts. » Nicolas' Hist of Navy, vol. 1, p. 228. 

» lb., p. 237. * Madox' Exch., vol. 1, p. 568. 



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10 ANCIENT WINCHELSEA. 

accoimts of historians, that the crews of the Cinque Ports were 
by no means scrupulous, but very often added to their gains 
by piracy, and plundered the vessels of other places as they 
passed the coast. The complaints of such behaviour are 
numerous ; as a specimen of which may be adduced the letter 
from the city of Cologne to king Henry III, from a Tower 

To the most serene Lord Henry, by the grace of God illustrious King 
of England, the Judges, Bailiffs, ('scabini,' echevius) Council, and other 
citizens in Cologne, the most ready obedience in all things, with all de- 
votion and reverence. We make known to your Lordship (dominationi) 
that we axe much concerned for your adversities, but we return unmea- 
sured thanks to your magnificence, in that our fellow-citizen merchants, 
with their goods, have hitherto been protected and preserved in your 
land by your royal authority without any grievance. Now, however, we 
have understood, by the shewing and serious complaint of our beloved 
fellow-citizen Hermann, the bearer of these letters, that he, coming with 
his goods into your jurisdiction, and that your citizens of Winkilse have 
plundered him of his goods to the value of 100 marcs, or more, by certain 
losses thence received. Wherefore we humbly and devoutly intreat your 
magnificence with earnest prayers, both for the sake of God and of 
justice, and by the interposition of our prayers, that you will deign to 
effect it, so that his goods may be restored to him, and that no dissension 
may arise between your citizens and ours from the aforesaid occasion, 
doing so much for us in this particidar, that we may be able thence to 
commend your royal Majesty ; and if no restitution shaU be made to him, 
then we are unable to desert him in his right, but ought to assist him, so 
that he may be able to recover the worth from your people. 

The plain hint at retaliation, probably, had more weight 
than the fine compliments of the rest of the letter. Many 
similar complaints from other cities, Bruges, Ypres, &c., 
are extant, and the lawless activity of the Cinque Ports seems 
often to have rendered the passage of the narrow seas as 
dangerous to conunercial traffic as was the passage of the 
Rhine among the castles of the mediaeval nobles. 

1 Tower MSS., Letter 160, Ex. inf., W. H. Blaauw, Esq. 



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ANCIENT WINCHELSEA. 11 

Resumption by the Crown. — Henry took another step, 
which was well calculated to bring Winchelsea and Rye 
more directly under his subjection, when, on the 15th May, 
in the 31st year of his reign, (1247,) "for the better 
defence of this realm," says Jeake, and — "it might be to conceal 
from foreigners the intelligence of affairs at home, and 
stop them of such convenient ports of passage," — ^the king took 
Winchelsea and Rye into his hands, and gave to the abbot and 
monks of F^.champ other lands in exchange. The King's 
charter, making the grant, which, together with a translation, is 
printed at length in Mr. Holloway's History of Rye, is the 
earliest charter relating to the town which has come down to 
us. It recites, that the king having felt it his duty to look with 
the greatest care, not only to the faithful government of his 
kingdom, but also to the imminent perils thereof, considering 
on all sides the state of his realm, and chiefly its maritime 
parts, he had discovered that, by means of the towns of 
Winchelsea and Rye, which had hitherto been held by the 
abbot and monks of Fischamp, to whom it was not allowed to 
fight against the enemies of the kingdom with material wea- 
pons, it might entail irreparable damage on him and his heirs 
in time of war, provided they should remain in the hands of 
the abbot and monks ; wherefore, by the advice of his council, 
and by the free consent of the abbot and monks, the king 
resumed into his own hands the said towns, with their ports, 
and the advowson of their churches, and with the fourth part 
of the marsh of Northmareys, and the annual payment of 
three shillings and ninepence.from thence arising, and with 
all their appurtenances, imder the control of the king and his 
heirs, according to the following bounds of Winchelsea, viz., 
where the sea and the harbour surroimd the town of Win- 
chelsea as far as to the fee of Gestlynges. Giving, and by 
that his charter, confirming unto the abbot and monks, as a 
good and sufficient exchange, the king's manors of Chilcen- 
ham, in the county of Gloucester, together with the hundred 



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Ig ANCIENT WINCHELSEA. 

and the oiher appurtenaiiGes thereof ; and of Scoultr, in the 
same county^ together with the hundred of Salmanbury, and 
the other appurtenances thereof; and also of Nayenehy, in 
the county of Lincoln^ with its appurtenances^ to be held of 
the king and his heirs by the abbot and monks of Fischamp 
for eyer, as freely and quietly as theretofore they had held 
Winchelsea and Rye^ by yirtue of a deed of gift made to 
them by Saint Edward^ of blessed memory, and, of concessions 
and confirmations, after the accustomed manner of William 
and Henry, kings of England, of the land called Stanings, 
with all their appendages, among which were reckoned Win- 
chelsea and Kye : the liberties of which were set forth in the 
diarter of King William, then given at length. 

It will be seen by this charter, that the king confined him- 
self to the resumption of the two towns of Winchelsea and 
Bye ; and that he left in the abbot's hands the adjoining manor 
of Brede, which included the parish of Saint Leonard, dose 
to Winchelsea, but within the liberty of Hastings, and a very 
large portixm of the town of Hastings, which must then have 
been of comparative unimportance.^ 

The king endeavoured to conciliate the townsmen of 
Winchelsea by granting to the barons and baUifi^ the farm of 

^ 6us8. Arch. Coll., vol. 2, p. 166. The Abbot, indeed, leceived other 
immunilies from Henry and his successor. In 2 £dw. I, the king directed 
that the men of the abbot should not be amerced. In 14 Edw. I, (1286) he 
had the king's consent for appropriating a piece of land in Hastings for 
the foundation of the Church of 8t Clem^it tiiere,— the date of this 
foundation has not been given by Moss or Horsfield,— and in 18 Edw. I, 
the abbot had the king's writ that Steyning church should be exempt 
from the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Canterbury. See Calendar 
Inq : p. m., vol. 1, pp. 54-92 and 103. By the same records, pp. 92 and 
204, it appears that in 14 Edw. I, Oalfridus Brian, on behalf of the abbot, 
had an inquisition of the land in Brede, &c. ; and that in 33 Edw. 1, Alan 
Polyngford had on his behalf an inquisition of the. abbot's possessions in 
Rudgwick, BiUingshurst, Slynfold, Stening, and Polebergh, where there 
were 30s. of annual rents, a messuage, and 200 acres of land belonging to 
the abbot. 



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AXctENT WINCHELSEA. IS 

the town^ with all its liberties and appurtenances to hold 
during his pleasure. Th^ duly accounted to Hen. Ill tor 
the £u7n :^ as they did to his successor, when, 6th February, 
Bilk £dw. I, they were in lieu o{ an account to render to the 
king, annually, £42, half at Easter and half at Michaelmas.^ 
Murage grants for the town were made in 46 Henry III, 
(1262) and again in the 53 Henry III, (1269.) 

Storms. — ^Hitherto the town had escaped without much 
damage from the elements ; but a far more serious storm than 
any whidi had before occurred, took place on Ist October, 
1250, which did a great, if not a fatal, injury to Old Win- 
chdsea. Against foreign enemies the prowess of the mea of 
Windielsea was wdl able to protect th^nselves and their 
town ; but against the formidable attacks of the elements they 
were without defence. HoUinshed thus records the storm: — 
''On the Ist day of October, the moon, upon her change, 
appearing exceeding red and swelled, began to show tok^ous 
of the grettt tempest of wind that followed, which was so 
huge and mighty, both by land and sea, that the like had not 
been lighdy known and seldom or rather never heard of by 
men then aliye. The sea forced, contrary to his natural 
course, iowed twice without ebbing, yielding such a roaring 
that the same was heard (not without great wonder) a far 
di8t»n<y? from the shore. Mc^eover, the same sea appeared in 
the dark of tjie night to bum, as it had been on fire, and the 
waves to strive and fight together, alter a marvellous sort, so 
that the mariners could not devise how to save their ships 
where ttey lay at ianchor, by no cunning or shift which they 
could devise. At Hertbume three tall ships perished without 
recovery, besides smaller vessels. At Winchelsea, besides 
other hurt that was done in bridges, mills, breaks, and banks, 
th^e were 800 houses and some churches drowned with the 
high rising of the water course."' 

» Addl. MSS., 6344, p. 143. ' Madox' Exch., vol. 1., p. 335. 

3 HoUini^ed vol. 2, p. 419. In the same year there was an earthquake 
at St. Albans. 



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14 ANCIENT WINCHELSEA. 

This second iniindation by which Winchelsea suffered so 
greatly is elsewhere described in the following terms : — ^^ In 
the month of October, in the year 1^50, the moon being in 
her prime, the sea passed her accustomed boundaries, flowing 
twice without ebb, and made so horrible a noise that it was 
heard a great way within land, not without the astonishment 
of the oldest man who heard it. Besides this, at dark at 
night the sea seemed to be a light-fire, and to bum; inso- 
much that it was past the mariner's skill to save the ships ; 
and to omit others, at a place called Huckebum, (probably 
East or Hitherboume) three noble and famous ships were 
swallowed up by the violent rising of the waves and were 
drowned; and at Winchelsea a certain haven, eastward, 
besides cottages for salt, fishermen's huts, bridges, and mills, 
above 300 houses, by the violent rising of the waves, were 
drowned." It is probable that at this inimdation Bromhill 
church was lost. 

Matthew of Paris, tells us, that, qp the octave of the 
Epiphany, in the year 1252, during the day and night a ter- 
rible south-west wind prevailed, — ^thatit drove the ships from 
their anchorage, raised the roofs of houses, many of which 
were thrown down, uprooted completely the largest trees, 
deprived churches of their spires, made the lead to move, and 
did other great damage by land, and still greater by sea : and 
especially at the port of Winchelsea, '^ which is of such use 
to England, and above all, to the inhabitants of London," the 
waves of the sea broke its banks, swelling the neighbouring 
rivers, knocked down the mills and the houses, and carried 
away a number of drowned men. And at the close of the 
following year the sea again broke its bounds, and left so 
much salt upon the land, that in the autumn of 1254, the wheat 
and other crops could not be gathered as usual ; and even 
the forest trees and hedges could not put out their foil 
foliage. 

Churches, Eeligious House, &c. — The old town, as we 



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ANCIENT WINCHELSEA. 15 

have already seen, had two churches,-— one was dedicated 
to St. Thomas, the other to St. GUes. 

Soon after the first establishment of the Franciscans, Minor 
or Gray Friars, in England, which, according to Stow, Dug- 
dale, and Leland, was in 1224, a house of that order was 
founded at Old Winchelsea, and it survived the great storm 
of 1250. Eichard de la Wych (St Richard,) Bishop of 
Chichester, who died 1253, by his will^ left to the Friars 
Minor of Winchelsea, Mark and Matthew, and 20s. ; and as 
St. Richard does not mention the Dominicans or Black Friars, 
of whom he had been a brother, it is tolerably clear that they 
had no house in this town. The tythe of the boats of Win- 
chelsea belonged to the Canons of the free chapel of St. 
Mary, of Hastings.^ And William, son of Walwin, gave a 
rent of 4s. yearly, with the appurtenances in Winchelsea, to 
the nuns of Davinton, in Kent, which was saved from the 
early storms, and confirmed to them with their other posses- 
sions, by the king, 39 Hen. Ill, (1255.)3 The last vicar of 
St. Thomas, in the old town, rendered himself famous, and 
did good service to his countrymen, by resisting the 
demands made upon him against his will, to prosecute another 
clerk, who had robbed him ; although we are afraid that the 
compulsion, in more modem days, would have been carried 
out by a recognizance to appear and prosecute. Warner, vicar 
of the church of St. Thomas, of Winchelsea, had been robbed 
by Andrew Fincheham, clerk, who, by benefit of clergy, de- 
clined his trial, and was afterwards harboured by Warner, 
wherefore the barons and bailiff of Winchelsea, who had 
seized his houses and goods to enforce him to prosecute his 
clerk for the felony, were commanded b^ mandamxis, 24th 
January, 1st Edw. I, to take security of Warner to answer 
for what he had done when called upon, but to restore to him 

1 Suss. Arch. CoU., vol. 1, p. 170. « Tanner's Not. Mon., 656. 

3 Mon. Angl., vol. 1, p. 502, a. 2. 



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16 ANCIENT WINCHELSEA. 

his houses and goods^ for that no one, without his will, ought 
to be compelled to prosecute for what had been stolen from 
him.* 

There was a hospital of St. Bartholomew having considerable 
land, as appears by tiie boundaries of Rye in the Resumption 
Charter. The Abbot and church of St. Martin, of Battle, were 
also possessed of land within the old town. From the abbey 
charters^ it appears that Wm. de Bee released in pure alms, 
to this church and the almonry of the same, certain rents in 
Winchelsea, and land in Snelham. John, the son of Wm. 
Fisher, released to them the rent of a messuage here. Ste- 
phen and Roger, sons of Agnes Grig, for the health of their 
souls, and of tibe said Agnes, their mother, enfeoffed to the 
abbot and convent two messuages near Comhethe, between the 
messus^es of Roger de Oreford and John Rich, held of 
William de Farlegh, in his lordship of Winchelsea, one of 
which had been purchased by her of SaJhuel Adam, and one 
of which was afterwards let at fee farm by the abbot and 
convent to Ralph Ivegod, baron of Winchelsea.^ Before 
1199, William de St. Leger had granted to the abbey lands 
beyond Winchelsea ; John, Earl of Eu, had confirmed the 
grant ^ and there was a confirmation from Clarembaldus, 
his successor, to the abbey, of land called Maries, also beyond 
Winchelsea ; and about 1280, Alicia, Countess of Eu, only 
daughter and heir of Henry, the 5th Earl, confirmed these 
lands and marsh, as being in Winchelsea, for the salvation of 
her own soul, and of the souliS of her father and mother, and 
for the soul of her lord Ralph de Ysonden of good memory, 
then late Earl of Eu, who died in 1218, and for the souls 
of all her ancestors and successors. 

1 Ryley's Plac. Pari. app. 433. Prynne'a Hist, of Kong John, p. 127. 

2 Battle Records, pp. 8-17-19-33. 

* The counter part agreement bears his seal, in the centre of which is a 
fish. 

* Records, pp. 40-42. 



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ANCIBNT WINCHBLSEA. 17 

Barons* War. — ^The Cinque Ports showed themselves ex- 
tremely favorable to the catise of De Montford and the 
Baxons. When war broke out, Henry doubted them, and on 
S3rd October, 1S6^, when he was expecting over some foreign 
troops to his aid, his brother, the king of the Romans, wrote 
to him, advising him first to ascertain whether the Cinque 
Ports were likely to let them land.^ The ports refused to 
abide by the award made at the mise of Amiens ; and not- 
withstanding the favor with which Winchelsea had been 
treated by Henry, the townsmen were in vain exhorted to 
lend him any aid. After the capture by Prince Edward of 
tie Earl of Gloucester's castle of Tunbridge, in April, 1264, 
the King and the Prince repaired to the coast '^ towards the 
havenes with gret poer eon," coming by way of Eobertsbridge 
and Battle, where, as elsewhere, the king's progress was 
marked by rapine and slaughter. The king was at Tunbridge 
on 30th April, reached Winchelsea on Thursday, the 8th 
May, and remained during the 9th and 10th. During these 
three days he applied in vain to the Cinque Ports for assist- 
ance, urging them to send a naval force up the Thames to 
attack London. The Warden and Barons of the ports sternly 
forbade the use of their ships, and the king, after exacting 
hostages for the fidelity of the Cinque Ports, or, as Matthew of 
Paris expresses it, having been reconciled to and taken into 
favor the Cinque Ports, quitted Winchelsea to collect all his 
forces at Lewes, the strong hold of his brother in law, the 
Earl de Warenne. The king arrived at Lewes on 11th May, 
and there, on the 14th May, the fatal battle was fought which 
placed Senry in the Barons* power.* 

On 28th May, 1264, Simon de Montford committed the 
custody of Dover castle and of the Cinque Ports to his son 
Henry. 

1 Tower MS., Letters, No. 124. Ex. inf., Mr. W. H. Blaauw. 
3 Matthew Paris. Blaauw's Baron's War, p. 114. Suss. Arch. Coll., 
vol. 2, p. 137. 

3 



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18 ANCIENT WINCHELSEA* 

When Eleanor^ Countess of the successful De Montford^ 
in 1266, made her journey from Porchester to Dover, she 
came from Wihnington with her husband to Winchelsea, and 
here they spent Sunday, 14th June, with all their suite ; and 
here they feasted the burghers of the town ^ and many others. 
The Winchelsea burghers were afterwards twice feasted by 
the Countess (12th and 30th July,) at Dover, 

Piracies. — ^The success of the Barons was not imacceptable 
to the men of Winchelsea and of their fellow ports ; they had 
full license for those lawless habits which made them, as 
marauders on the seas, the terror of foreign mariners, and the 
dread, even, of English vessels. For two years they enjoyed 
a complete immunity, and carried out to the frdlest extent the 
practices which have left a deep stain upon their name.* 
Winchelsea, therefore, was a friendly place to which the yoimg 
Simon de Montford could repair, when aft;er his father's 
death, at Evesham, on 4th August, 1265, suspecting treachery 
on being compelled to accompany the king to London. 
Young Simon is recorded to have left his castle of Kenilworth 
on St. Clement's day, (1266) for London; whence, with the 
greatest secrecy, he departed and joined the citizens of the 
Cinque Ports at Winchelsea, who were waiting to receive him : 
associated himself with these rovers, and soon made himself 
formidable by his bold piracies at sea, and by collecting troops 
on the oppiosite coast,^ but ultimately departed from thence 
and went to France.* The day of retribution was, however, 
close at hand. The young Simon had not long left the 
English shores and threatened an invasion, when the Prince 
Edward (1266,) made a terrible example of the Winchelsea 

^ Blaauw's Baron's Wax, p. 288, where there is a curious extract from 
the Roll of the expenses incurred on this journey. 

* To this day when the boats of Winchelsea or Hastings enter some of 
our western ports, a hatchet is held up to them as a sign of opprobrium 
for their ancestors* conduct : not altogether unknown, if report speak 
truly, in later times. 

3 Ann. Wav. Gale, vol. 2, p. 221. * Hollinshed. 



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ANCIENT WINCHELSEA. 19 

marauders. Departing from Dover, says HoUinshed, "the 
Prince visited the sea coasts, punishing (Kvers of the inhabi- 
tants within the precincts of the Cinque Ports, and putting 
them in fear, received divers to the Idng's, his father, peace. 
The inhabitants of Winchelsea only, made countenance to 
resist him; but Prince Edward, with valiant assaults, entered 
the town, in which entry much guilty blood was spilt, but 
yet the multitude, by the commandment of Prince Edward, 
was spared, and thus having won the town, he commanded 
that from thenceforth they should abstain from piracies, 
which they had before greatly used." 

Pennant, speaking of this transaction, says — ^^'Old Winchel- 
sea had been a. most powerful port; but, like the others, its 
vessels acted in most of their cruises, with savage barbarity. 
During tiie time that Simon de Montford, Earl of Leicester, 
held his iron rod over these countries, they gave ftdl loose to 
their piracies, and flung over-board the crews of every ship 
they met, whether it was foreign or English : Leicester had 
share of the booty, and so winked at their enormities. In 
1266, Prince Edward put a stop to their cruelties ; he at- 
tacked Winchelsea, took it by storm, and put to the sword all 
the principal inhabitants concerned in the inhuman practices 
of the times : the rest he saved, and granted the inhabitants 
far better terms than they deserved. He at that time feared 
their power, and the assistance they might give to the rebellious 
Montford, had he been too rigorous in his measures." 

The punishment was, in its results, far more severe than 
the prince had intended, or than the inhabitants had expected. 
The old town never again flourished. 

Edward I. — ^When Edward ascended the throne (Novem- 
ber 1272,) the town was gradually falling into decay ; yet it 
was stiU of importance, and its port was still much fre- 
quented. In the first year of his reign. Sir Matthew Hastings 
was bailiflf of the town; and having, as such, exacted toll 
from the tenants of the Archbishop of Canterbury, who were 



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20 ANCIENT WINGHELSEA. 

exempt^ the Archbishop treated the matter in a very summary 
way, by sending him a peremptory letter to refrain from such 
exactions, and restore the pledges detained for toll within 
eight days, on pain of excommunication :^ and on the 18th 
Jxme, 1273, the king addressed a letter to the barons and bai- 
lifis, by which they were directed, without delay, to expel all 
Jews from the place, as it was not a town which they had been 
accustomed to inhabit.* Three years later, on 2nd July, 
1276, the king himself came here, no longer to chastise, but 
to take measures for the transfer of the town to a new, and as 
it was hoped, a more favorable site :' and in the following 
year,^ according to Norden, the king had arranged his plans 
for the new town, 

Dbsteuction. — ^Year by year it became more evident that 
the old town would be abandoned : and at length, in 1287, 
the great inundation happened, which totally destroyed Old 
Winchelsea, and obliged almost all such of the inhabitants as 
escaped to quit it. In the Eecords of Bye, Jeake states it to 
have been thus recorded,^ — " M.D. quod anno domini 
MCCLXXXVII, in vigiha Sanctae Agathae Virginis, submersa 
fuit villa de Winchelsea et omnes terrae inter Clivesden* ( i,e. 
Cliff end) usque ad le Vochere de Hythe." Harris'' says, 
'^ in an old manuscript, I have met with this note. Quoedam 

1 Prynne's King John, p. 129. « Rymer's Feed., voL 1, p. 503. 

3 Three writs, relating to some disturbances of the Bishop of Ely's liber- 
ties, are tested by the King at Winchelsea. Prynne's King John, p. 182. 

* An edict was made this year to arrange the rights and usages of the 
ports during the fishing season at Great Yarmouth. Jeake, p. 13. 

^ Elsewhere it is said that << in a book of precedents remaining among 
the records of the town of Rye, p. 131, is a memorandum entered that 
the year Old Winchelsey was drowned, which is there said to be 1287, com 
was at 2s. a quarter.** Jeake's Arithmetic, p. 74. 

« This has always been printed Climesden ; for the correct reading we 
are indebted to Mr. John Phillips, of Hastings. The family of Cliyesend 
were benefactors to Battle Abbey of lands at Brooke, and of 3a. of land 
in Guestling, lying near the wood of Cumfunte. 

' Harris' Kent 



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ANCIENT WINCHELSEA. 21 

villa Tocat: Winclielsea cum omnibus terris mariscis inter 
Clivesden juxta Farelythe et Hythe submersa fiiit in vigilift 
Sanctae Agathae Virginis, — ^viz., quarto die Febrii, A.D., 
1287. This ij^tmdation and destruction of Old WincHelsea 
was very sudden, as indeed I have seen it expressed in an 
old record to have been, per substaneam intemperiem maris/' 
The same inundation is recorded by Somner,^ tliougli he 
relates it as happening in 1286. ''In an ancient French 
chronicle, (says he) sometime belonged to the church of Can- 
terbury, and written by a monk of the place in Edward II 
days, which I light on in Sir John Dews his library, I read 
thus, — ^and the same year (1286,) on the 2nd of the nones of 
February, the sea, in the Isle oi Thanet, rose dt swelled so 
high, and in the marsh of Romenal, tliat it brake all the walls 
and drowned all the grounds : so that from the great wall of 
Appledore as far as Winchelsey, toward the soutli and the 
west, all the land lay under the water lost. Mr. Camden 
intends^ I suppose, the same inundation, when he saith, 'that, 
in the reign of Edward I, the sea raging with the violence of 
winds, overflowed tihis tract, and made pitiiul waste of people, 
cattel, and of houses in every place, as having quite drowned 
PromhiU, a pretty town, well frequented ; and that it also 
made the Rother forsake his old channel, which here before 
time emptied himself into the sea, and stopped his mouth, 
opening a new and nearer way for him to pass into the sea by 
Rye.* ** Here, means Romney. 

And Camden, giving the date of the inundation, says "what 
time the fiice of the earth, both here and also in the coast of 
Kent neere bordering, became much changed.'* The sudden 
stoppage of the Rotlier*s mouth at Romney, and the junction of 
its waters at Appledore, with those of the estuary of Rye, 
must have, indeed, altered entirely the face of the country. 
It is probable, that after this inundation. Old Winchelsea 

1 Ports and Forts, pp. 57-8. 



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22 ANCIENT WIXCHELSEA. 

became nearly or quite deserted by its inhabitants ; and for 
many years, 

Invenies sub aquis : et adhuc ostendere nautae 
Indinata solent cum moenibus oppida mersis. 

Ovid Met. Lib. xv. 294. 
The only direct mention of Old Winchelsea, as existing in 
part after the great storm of 1287, which we have met with, 
is in Madox' Hist, of the Exch., vol. 2, p. 87, where it is said, 
that in 20 Ed. I, (1292) a plea being moved in Court Christian 
before the Bishop of Chichester concerning Sepulture in Old 
Winchelsey, and the said plea being in derogation of the 
King's right and prerogative, the King, by his writ, commands 
the Bishop of Chichester to put the said plea in respite, and 
to warn the said parties to appear before the Treasurer and 
Barons of the Exchequer, on the morrow of All Souls, to 
receive judgment therein; accordingly the parties and the 
bishop's official appeared at the Exchequer, but the court 
adjourned the proceedings therein till such time as the trea- 
surer should send one of the barons to view the place in 
question : and no further account appears. 

Families, &c. — The most important family in the old town 
was that of the Saxon family of Aiard, who were settled 
at Winchelsea and at Treyford, in Sussex, before the Conquest, 
and of whom we shall have to speak at length in oiir account 
of the new town. 

The family of Paulin was also of considerable importance 
in the old town. In the trtne of Henry III, Paulin of Win- 
chelsy is a witness to a Brede charter ; and in 1273 there 
was a lease of If acres of land from Stephen Hesel to James 
Fitzpaulin. The family removed to the new town. In 
1290, Gilbert at Forde, of Farlegh, and Philip de Essche 
quitted claim to Jacob, son of Paulin of Winchelsea, half an 
acre "terre Flandrensis," in Icklesham.^ Members of the family 
were bailiffs of Winchelsea, tem. Edward II, and Richard II. 

1 Bering MSS. Ex. inf. The Rev. Lambert B. Larking, of Ryarsh 
Vicarage. Henry de Winchelsy is another witness, and Reginald de 
Winchelsy is cited in the same Brede charter. 



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ASCIEST WlSCHEtSEA. 



23 




I X K 1 




The old town gave birth to Robert of Winchelsby, a 
"7 prelate of great eminence and 
equal force of character ; and who, 
in asserting the power of the cler- 
gy against his sovereign, has been 
quaintly designated *' a traitor to 
his king, but a true subject to the 
pope." He was bom of mean 
parents in Winchelsea about the 
middle of Henry III reign. 
The following sketch of his life is 
given by Dart.^ Upon the death of Feckham, Archbishop of 
Canterbury, who was also a Sussex man, having been bom at 
Lewes, " the monks chose Robert Winchelsey, who was con- 
secrated on the 2d Id September, anno 1293, and was 
confirmed by Pope Coelestine the Vih, on the 8th Id Septem- 
anno 1294; he was consecrated at Rome on the 2d Id 
September, by the Cardinal Sabine, and the same year coming 
from Rome, through Almaigne, (for there was then war 
between England and France,) he landed at Yarmouth on the 
first day of January, and went to wait upon the king, who 
was then in Wales, and at Aberconwey : he took his oath of 
allegiance, and received his temporalities from him; and 
returning thence on the 15th kal. April, he made his public 
entry into Canterbury, and was met by the convent in their 
coaps at the Cemitery Gate, and thence entering the church, 
paid his devotions, and received the prior and convent with 
the Kiss of Feace. And after Michaelmas, anno. 1295, he was 
solemnly inthroned by Henry de Estria, prior ; on which day 
he cited Gilbert, Earl of Gloucester, who came and officiated 
as steward and butler, according to custom. He was educated 
in the grammar school of the city of Canterbury, whence, 
after gaining a sufficient stock of grammar learning, he went 

1 Dart's Canterbury Cathedral^ pp. 139:40. 



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24 ANCIENT WINCHELSEA. 

to Faris^ where he commenced master of arts^ according to 
Birchington. He went next to Merton College, in Oxford, 
and was D.D. in that University, and sometime Chancellor of 
it. His first rise in the church was to the Archdeaconry of 
Essex, together with a Canonry in St. Paul's. He was so 
much esteemed, that when he was consecrated: ait Borne he 
was offered to be made pope, and afterwards cardinal, but 
declined it. Soon after he was settled in this chair, Edward 
th6 First, in order to carry on his expedition against the Scots, 
demanded a subsidy of the clergy, which the archbishop, 
taking hold of the Decree of the Council of Lyons, stifly 
opposed ; and the king, who was equally wise and valiant, 
resented his opposition so highly, that he seized his estate and 
banished him, and he continued in banishment till the king's 
death, and in great want, being unrelieved by the pope, for 
obeying whose new constitution he suffered. But yet^ an 
ancient MS. History of this Church (of Canterbury) says, 
that the king seized all th& estates in England, and obliged 
the owners to redeem them with a fifth part of the value, 
but the Archbishop reftised such composition ; but that 
after seizing his goods and effects for twenty-one weeks and 
five days, the king observing his resolution and conistancy, 
and that there was no probability of bringing him into his 
measures, restored them to him on the l'4th kal. August 
following. And three years after, viz., 1299, on the 6th Id. 
September, he married that Frince to Margaret, the King of 
France's sister, in the martyrdom of this church, and said 
mass, upon that occasion, at the altar, by St. Thomas Becket's 
shrine. Upon King Edward the Second's coming to the 
throne, he grew in his favour, and very rich, by aJrears due 
from his tenants. He aftief this grew a generbiis opposer of 
Gaveston and the two Spencers, and other parasites of the 
king. He was likewise a severe punisher of vice, aind as 
great an encourager of men of virtue and learning ; and on 
such only he bestowed what chutch preferments were in his 



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ANCIENT WINCHELSEA. 25 

hands ; and at the same time to encourage learnings bestowed 
much upon poor students in the universities. He bore the 
character of a man of singular piety^ and a mirror of pre- 
lates. He "was generous to his church, and gave to it vestments^ 
together with a most rich cope, and all his books. He was 
exceeding charitable, for which he was generally, by the 
vulgar, reverenced as a saint afi;er his death, which happened 
at Otteford, Id. May, 1818, according to Thorn ; but more 
- truly, according to Birchington and the obituary of this church, 
on the 5th Id. May, being Friday, 1818, and was buried 10 
kal. June, in the upper south cross, near the altar of St. 
Gregory, whither the people resorted out of devotion, es- 
teeming him a saint. And about thirteen years after his 
death, Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, applied to the pope for his 
canonization ; but the pope returned, that those affairs were 
to be cautiously undertaken, and sought for in a different 
manner, with proof of miracles, and a general request of pre- 
lates : so it went off. But such was the adoration paid there 
notwithstanding, that it was demolished at the reformation, as 
giving occasion to idolatry. It must not be forgotten that 
this archbishop is said to have been seen in a vision at Home, 
the death of King Edward. He gave ten rich benefices to 
the regents in divinity, and near as much to the bachelors in 
divinity ; and to other scholars he was generous, giving to 
some forty shillings, and to others twenty, yearly; to the 
mendicants he was likewise bountiful, giving to some twenty,, 
some ten marks. In charity to the poor he was very 
excellent, relieving them every Sunday to the nmnber of four 
thousand ; and on the four festivals of the Blessed Virgin 
Mary, he gave one hundred and fifty pence to as many poor 
persons ; and on the feast of her conception, and the four 
days preceding it, and on the feasts of the others, and other 
memorable festivals, he gave one hamdred pence ; and to all 
that were ancient and infirm, he gave nourishment and sub- 
sistance ; to poor persons who were too modest to beg publicly, 

4 



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26 ANCIENT WINCHELSEA. 

he caused a strict enquiry to be made for such in the circuit 
of four miles^ and then gave them annual pensions propor- 
tionable to their wants, and the number of their children. 
He likewise clothed large numbers of poor, at the same time 
that he denied himself more than two suits of apparel at one 
time. He was so strictly chaste that he would never speak 
to women but at confession. He was a constant frequenter 
of church service and sermons ; and would not be absent for 
any matters of state. And, as to discipline, he was very re- 
markable, and would often go into the chapter-house and shut 
the door upon him, where he used corporal penance; insomuch 
that after his death. Ids thigh bones were laid almost bare, 
and the flesh livid with blows, and the bloody and watery 
substance visible, which some conjectured was occasioned by 
the hardness of the bed, but others, more justly, by his 
scourging. And however severe and strict he was in observing 
upon himself, he was to others, at table and elsewhere, affable, 
free, and pleasant, but hated parasites, oppressors, and sports- 
men. He was as to his person lusty, but had a fair and 
pleasant complexion. He was moderate in his diet, and if 
any dainties were at his table, he never tasted them, but 
distributed them to women and ancient men. He was a very 
great devotee to the Virgin Mary, and used frequently to say 
the Salutation of the Angel, or the Ave, upon Jiis fingers ; and 
if we may credit the writers of this monastery, at his burial 
was a wondrous miracle, for while that was repeated over his 
grave, one saw the thumb of the dead corpse traverse over the 
fingers as usual in his life time. He visited the Convent of 
Worcester, and preached in the chapter-house there; and 
went the same day to Wyke, to visit Bishop Godfrey, who 
then lay sick ; and the day following visited the Priory, and 
when he came into the great hall, it was fiUed with strangers, 
whereupon he and his retinue went away, and would not dine. 
Not long after, he went again into the chapter-house and de- 
posed the sub-prior, precentor, and chamberlain; and 



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ANCIENT WINCHELSEA. 27 

suspended the third prior, and the pitanciary, from going out 
of the monastery for one year and three days. After, he was 
at Hayles Abbey, in Gloucestershire, with the king and many 
nobles, at the burial of Edmund, Earl of Cornwall. And 
three years after, he took from that convent the church of 
DoderhuUe, given them by Godfrey, the bishop, for which the 
monks there charged him with injustice. 

In the Cotton MSS. there are two Constitutions of Robert 
of Winchelsey : one showing in what lordships the arch- 
bishop ought to provide for the parochial duties, and in what 
others it was the duty of the rector : and the other in 1305, 
regulating the jurisdiction and obedience of rectors and vicars 
in celebrating the service. There is also a memorandum of 
his death, and of the election and enthronement of Walter 
Reginald, his successor. Cotton MSS., Faust. A. viii, 41 b., 
116 b., 173 b.; and in the same MSS. Galba, E. iv, 67, there is 
a copy of the Archbishop's Statutes on his first visitation, in 
1298. He bore for his arms. Argent ^ between two bars, 
erm.y a bamdet gules ^ in chief three cinque foUs vert, Lans. 
MSS., 265, p. 3. 



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MODERN WINCHEL8EA. 



Building. — ^When it had become evident that a restoration 
of the old town was impossible^ and after Edward I had paid 
his visit, in 1277, he sent here John Kirkeby, Bishop of Ely 
and Treasurer of England, to view a plot to make a new 
town ; and thereupon a site was fixed, on which a new town 
should be built. That site was a hill at a place in the adjoin- 
ing parish of Icklesham, then called Iham, partly within the 
manor of Iham, which, together with the manor of Iden, 
then belonged to William de Grandison and Isabella his wife, 
but was afterwards acquired by the King, and partly on land 
belonging to Sir John Tregoz, to Battle Abbey, and to 
others. The spot was principally an 
uneven sandstone rock, fit only for, and 
used as a rabbit warren ; but there was a 
portion of meadow land at the north-west 
comer. This rock was washed by the 
waters on the east and north sides ; on 
the north-west there was a communica- 
tion by means of a ferry with Udimore, 
whence the direct road led to Battle and London ; and on 
the south there was a road leading to Pett and Fairlight. 
The site is now table land, and seems to have been made 
level by using the surface stone for the buildings required in 
the new town. The whole land ultimately assigned for this 
town was 150 acres ; and to make up the required quantity, 
the King, in the eighth year of his reign (1280,) directed his 
writ to Ealph of Sandwich, his steward, to exchange or buy 





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30 MODERN WINCHELSEA. 

of John de Langherst and John Bone, if they would sell, 
lands that lay near Iham, and fit for the building of the new 
town of Winchelsea; and it is there mentioned that the 
greatest part of Old Winchelsea was drowned, and the sea 
prevailing more and more against it, the rest was hopeless long 
to stand.^ An exchange was effected, and on the 27th No- 
vember, 1281, the King issued forth the following commission 
to Stephen de Penecester and others, to assign places at Iham 
(being a hill near) for the inhabitants of Old Winchelsea to 
plant themselves at. 

Edwardus Dei gratia, Hex Anglise, Dominus Hibemiae, et Dux Acqui- 
tanisR, dilectis et fidelibus suis Stephano de Pencester, Iter. Engolisma, 
et Henrico le Waleys, salutem. Sciatis quod assignavimus vos ad 
assidend. placias apud Ihamme, et eas per certain arrentationem, juxta 
legalem extentam per vos inde faciend. Baronibus et probis hominibus 
nostris de Wynch. edificand. et inhabitand. juxta discretiones vestras com- 
mittend. Et ideo vobis mandamus, quod vos omnes, yel duo vestrum, 
quos ad hoc vacare contigerit, in propriis personis vestris apud Ihame 
accedatis, et placieis ibidem assideatis, et eas prsefatis Baronibus 
edificand. et inhabitand. commitatis in forma preedicta ; salya tum Do- 
minis immediatis placiarum praedictarum rationabili extenta cujuslibet 
acrse per vos assessee, et ad inhabitan. commissse, juxta discretiones 
vestras praedictas, sicut prasdictum est. In cujus rei testimonium has 
literas nostras fieri fecimus patentes. Teste me ipso apud Westm. xxvii., 
die Novembris, anno regni nostri decimo.* Which letters were made 
patent on 15th March following. John de Cobeham was joined with them. 

And to give greater confidence to those who should be 
willing to adopt the new town as their home, Edward, by his 
commission, dated at Acton Bumell, on 18th October, 1288, 
after reciting that he had provided a new town at Yham, " in 
lieu of our town of Winchelsea, which is in great part sub- 
mersed by the inundations of the sea, and whose total 
submersion is feared," declared that he had resolved to conmiit 
the lands and tenements there to the barons of the port and 
town of Winchelsea, and wiUed that the same barons, when 

'Jeake,p. 103. =»Ibid. 



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MODERN WINCHELSBL%. 31 

they should have taken their abode there and begun to build, 
should be as free in the new town as they were in the old 
town and elsewhere, and should enjoy the same liberties and 
privileges as they did under their old charters. On 28th 
April, 1281, the king gave to William de Grandison and 
Sibilla or Isabella, his wife, his manor of Dymnok, in the 
manor of Dertford, Kent, in exchange for the manors of 
Ihamme and Idenne, with the patronage of the churches, the 
parks, and the knight's fees, with all the appurtenances, 
except land which was Henry Bertin's, in Ihamme. And on 
23rd June, 1288, (the year after the fatal inundation of the 
old town) Edward carried out Ids promise to the inhabitants 
of Winchelsea, by granting to the barons of the royal port 
of Winchelsea the site and place of Ihamme, with the marsh 
there, except ten acres of land which the Kng retained to his 
use ; and he confirmed to them all the rights and privileges 
which, by the charters of his ancestors and otherwise, they 
were accustomed to enjoy, the barons accounting annually 
to the treasury, as they were wont to do in the old town ; he 
directed Salomon de Roff and others, the justices itinerant 
to admit of these privileges ; and finally the rights of the 
Vicar of Icklesham were satisfied by a grant of £10 a year, 
in consideration of the tithes of that part of the parish, taken 
into Old Winchelsea : which payment was formerly made out 
of the revenues of the Duchy of Cornwall, but is now dis- 
charged by the Receiver General of the Land Revenue of the 
County of Sussex.^ 

Charters. — The whole of these Charters were afterwards 
exemplified by King Henry the 4th, on 10th June, 1404, in 
the following Charter.* 

Henricus Dei gratia, Rex Angliae et Franciae, et Dominns Hiberniffi, 
omnibus, ad quos praesentes literse pervenerint, salutem. Inspeximus 
irrotulamentum quarundam literarum patencium Domini Edwardi, quon- 

1 Horsfield's Sussex, vol. 1, p. 473. « Jeake, pp. 104-6. 



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S2 MODERN WINCHELSEA. 

dam Regis Anglise primi post conquestum, in rotulis cancellarise suae 
irrotulatarum in h»c verba; Edwardus Dei gratia. Rex Anglise, et Domi- 
nus Hibemise, et Dux AcquitaniaSy omnibus, ad quos pnesentes liters 
pervenerint, salutem. Quia pro villa nostra de WincheLsee, quae pro 
majori parte per maris inundationes jam submersa est, et de cujus 
submercione totali cotidie veretur, quandam villam novam apud Yhame 
fieri providimus, et terras et tenementa ibidem baronibus villse et 
portus de Wynchelsee committere, et ipsos inde feofare, edificand. et 
inhabitand. volumus et concedimus, pro nobis et hseredibus nostris 
quod cum iidem barones placias suas apud Yhame ceperunt, et eas edificare 
inceperunt, ipsi, cum rebus et bonis suis omnibus adeo liberi sint in 
eadem nova villa et alibi ubique, sicut antea fiierint in pnedicta villa 
de Wynchelsee, et aliis locis quibuscunque ; et easdem libertates et 
consuetudines habeant, quas habent per cartas pr»decessorum nostrorum 
Regum Anglise, et eisdem libertatibus et consuetudinibus gaudeant et 
utantur, quibus, rationabiliter usi sunt temporibus retroactis ; et cartas 
nostras eis inde de novo fieri fisiciemus. In cujus rei testimonium has 
literas nostras fieri fecimus patentes. T. me ipso apud Acton Bumell, xiii, 
die Octobris, anno regni nostri undecimo. Inspeximus etiam irrotula- 
mentum cujusdam commissionis prsedicti quondam Regis in rotulis 
cancellarise praedicto irrotulatse, in hoec verba: (setting out the commission 
to John de Cobeham and others, and then proceeding.) 

Inspeximus insuper irrotulamenta quorundam brevium ejusdem quon- 
dam Regis in rotulis cancellarise suae praedictse similiter irrotulatorum, in 
hoec verba : Quia propter dampnum quod di. et fi. R. Barones Portus R. de 
Wynchelsee, de villa sua per maris intemperiem, jam diu est, sustinuerunt, 
ac periculimi quod eis indies imminet ibidem, Rex debit et concessit eis- 
dem baronibus suis situm et placeam de Ihamme, cum marisco, exceptis 
decem acristerree, quas in placea praadicta Rex retinet ad opus suum, quos 
Rex habuit ex concessione di. et fi. suorum Williehni de Grandisono et 
IsabelleB uxoris ejus,ad inhabitand. et ad villam suam de Wynchelsee ibidem 
faciend. et tenend. de Rege et haered. suis, sibi et haered. suis. Ita quod ipsi 
Barones sunt ibidem adeo liberi, sicut prius apud Wynchelsee fuerunt, et eis- 
dem libertatibus, quibus apud Wynchelsee, per cartas antecessorum Regis 
Itegum AngliaB, et confirmationem Regis uti consueverunt, de ccetero 
in omnibus gaudeant et utantur ibidem. Et ita quod de firma villae 
ejusdem R. respondeatur per annum ad scaccarium Regis per manus 
Ballivi Regis ibidem, sicut prius de praedicta villa sua de Wynchelsee res- 
ponderi consueverint. Mandatum est Vic. Sussex, quod eisdem baronibus 
de praedictis situ et placea, cum marisco, plenam seisinam habere fac. 
salvo jure cujusKbet, et ita quod alteri non prajudicetur, Rex eum in 



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MODERN WINCHELSEA. SS 

adventu suo in Angfiam per se et eosdem Barones singL jus petentibus 
in prsedictis et damantibus satisfiiciety nisi per dilectos et fideles Regis 
prius inde fuerit satisfaetum. T. Edm. oomite Comubiae cons. R. apud 
Westm. xxiii, die Junii» anno regni sui sexto decimo. Consimile breve 
dirigitur eidem yic. quod eisdem Baron, de pnedictis situ et placea per 
metas et bundas inde factas plenam seisinam similiter habere fi9u^ absque 
conditionibus prsedictis. T. ut supra. Sub hitjusmodi forma mandatum est 
Salomoni de Boff, et sociis sms Justic. itinerantibus in com. Sussex, per 
duo breyia B. yidelicity per unum cum condicionibus pnedictis et aliud 
absque condicionibus quod prsedictos Barones libertatibus pnedictis 
ibidem uti permittant, nee ipsos super hiis in aliquo inquietent coram eis, 
seu ab aliis inquietari permittant. T. ut supra. Inspeximus similiter 
tenorem irrotulamenti cujusdam cartse Willielmi de Grandisono et 
Sibillse uxoris ejus, in memorandis scaccarii ejusdem quondam Regis irro- 
tulatse, quern coram nobis in Canoellar. nostram venire fecimus, in luec 
verba : Sciant prsesentes et futuri, quod nos Willielmus de Grandisono 
et Sibilla uxor mea dedimus, concessimus, et hac prsesenti carta 
nostra confirmavimus, pro nobis et hsered. nostris, magnifico principi et 
Domino nostro ligeo Domino Edwardo Dei gratia Rex Anglis illustri, 
maneria nostra de Ihamme et Idenne, cum advocationibus ecclesiarum^ 
parcis, et cum feodis militum, et cum omnibus aKjs pertin. suis, ex- 
cepta ilia terra quse fuit Henrici Bertin in Ihamme, habend. et tenend. 
eidem Domino nostro Regi et hsered. suis libere, quiete, absolute, et 
integre, imperpetuimi, in eseambium manerii de Dymnok, et quadra- 
ginta et sex librarum, sex solidorum, et trium denar. et unius quadr.. 
redditus ann. in Dertford. Et nos et haered. nostri warrantizabimus 
prsedicto Domino nostro Regi et hsered. suis eadem maneria de Ihamme 
et Idenne iinperpetuum in eseambium prsedictum. In cujus rei testi- 
monium pnesenti cartse sig^illa nostra opposuimus. Hiis testibus,. 
venerabili patre T. Eliens. episcopo Dom. Rs. Thesaur. Petro de Cestr* 
prseposito Beverlaci, Johanne de Cobham, Willielmo de Myddeton, Wil- 
lielmo de Carleton, Baron, de Scaccario, Ph. de Wileby, Cancellar. ejusdem 
scaccarii, Thoma de Weylaund, Johanne de Limetot, Willielmo de Bumton,. 
Justic de Banco, Rad. de Sandewico, Nich. de Castello, Richardo de 
Standeford et aliis. Dat. apud Westm. vicesimo octavo die Aprilis 
anno Regni Rs. Edwardi, prsedicti quinto decimo. Nos autem tenores 
irrotulamentorum praedictorum ad requisitionem nunc homin. dictie 
villas de Wynchelsee duximus exemplificand. per praesentes. In cujus rei 
testimonium has literas nostras fieri fecimus patentes. T. me ipso apud 
Westm. quinto decimo die Junii, anno Regni nostri quinto.— Smyth. 



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34 MODERN WINCHELSEA. 

Jeake^ after giving these c}uui;ers^ goes on to say that Old 
Winchekea being drowned, the inhabitants, by favour of the 
king, and authority of his charters and grants aforesaid, 
brought the name of Winchelsea to their new plantation at 
Iham, which Jeake erroneously supposes to be that ^^which 
was before a member to Hastings, called Petit Iham, and the 
rather, because Hastings yet claims that part called St. Leon- 
ards ;" but Petit Iham is in St. Leonards liberty, and the 
claims of Hastings did not extend into leklesham parish; 
^^and there buUt a town of about forty (the exact number was 
thirty-nine) squares, called quarters, after the pattern, as is 
believed, of the old town, with spacious streets ; adorned, 
besides the religious houses, with three churches, called St. 
Giles, St. Leonard, and St. Thomas the Apostle. Fortified, 
besides the natural situation on a lull, with walls, part of 
which, and of three of the gates are yet standing, — ^that called 
Pipewell leading to Rye (vi& Udimore,) another called New- 
gate (on the Pett side) leading to Hastings, and the other 
called Strandgate, leading to the rivulet running near the foot 
of the lull, and so into the sea at Rye, formerly called the 
river Ree, which at the edifying of this new town is supposed to 
have run up, navigable, beyond Winchelsea into the country, 
and at the west side of the town, in the place called Pewes 
Pond, conceived to have made the harbour where ships 
lay at anchor, which the sea afterwards deserting, was one 
cause of the decay of the place." Pennant, in his Tour,^ says 
he had been informed that an anchor had been found beneath 
the soil here. 

Leland, in his Itinerary,^ gives this account of the re-edifying 
of the town : — 

"The oulde Toune of Winchelesey of a vi. or vii. yeres together 
felle to a very soore and manifest mine, be reason of old rages of 
the se, and totally in the tyme of the aforesayde vi. or vii. yeres. In the 
space of these aforesayde yeres the people of Winchelesey made sute to 

iVol. 2, p. 31. 2Fol. 68. 



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MODERN WINCHELSEA. 35 

Kyng Edward the First for remedy and a new plot to set them a new 
toune on. Whereapon the Kyng sent thither John Kirkeby, Bisshop of 
Ely and Treasurer of England, and vewid a plot to make the new toune 
of Winchelesey on, the wich was at that tyme a ground wher conies 
partely did resorte. Syr John Tregose, a knight, was the chief owner of 
it, and one Maurice, and Bataille Abbay. The Kyng compoundid with 
them ; and so was there vii. score and tenne acres limited to the new toune, 
whereof part is in the King Mede withoute the toune, and part in hang- 
ging of the hille. Then in the tyme of the yere aforesayde the King set 
to his helpe in beginning and wauling New Winchelesey : and the inhabi- 
tantes of Olde Winchelesey tooke by a litle and litle and buildid at the new 
toune. So that wythyn the vi. or vii. yere afore expressid the new toune 
was metely welle fumishid, and dayly after for a few yeres encreasid." 

Site. — Thomas of Walsingham, who is followed by Cam- 
den, calls it a Port upon a hill; and says the new town was 
situate upon a very high hill, very steep on that side which 
looks towards the sea, or where it overlooks the road where 
the ships lie at anchor : whence the way leading from that 
part of the town to the haven, goes not straight forward, lest 
it should by a downright descent force those that go down 
to fall headlong, or those ascending to creep rather on their 
hands than walk ; but lying sideways, it winds with crooked 
turns often repeated, in and out to one side and the other, or 
as we should say *^ zig-zag." He adds, that on the side of 
this precipice the town was not enclosed by a stone wall, but 
by high mud or earthen entrenchments carried to the height 
of the human body, with intervals, and through these bulwarks 
was the look-out towards the ships. After giving us this 
description of the situation, Thomas of Walsingham goes on 
with an account of the accident, which happened to Edward 
when he was nearly thrown from his horse, of which we 
shall speak hereafter : but old Lambard, in his Topographical 
Dictionary, assumes the date of the incident to be at the 
building of the fortifications, and gives a very disastrous 
accoimt of the accident. He tells us that whilst the towns- 



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36 MODERN WINCHELSEA, 

men were occupied building the town, ^^ the King himself 
came to see the work, and as he approached, the noise of 
a windmiU so feared his horse that he never ceased 
leaping and flinging till he had cast his rider. The" sight 
whereof much grieved the beholders, howbeit they took 
him up without much harm." Whether the king was almost 
or altogether thrown from his horse is not very important for 
history. It is likely that Lambard copied from Walsingham, 
though he changed the time, and thinking the account rather 
dry, altered, embellished, and added to it. The visit must l^ave 
been prior to the king's absence for three years in Acquitaine, 
«nd probably took place in November, 1285, when the king 
was at Battle, whence on the 16th of that month he issued 
four writs for a view of frankpledge, &c., within the liberties 
of the Abbot of Peterborough.^ 

The new town, thus built, was surroimded by a stone wall 
t)n all the sides, except that overlooking the ships and 
next the precipice, and traces of this wall may still be found. 
But, besides the wall, there was a stronghold or castle built by 
the king at the north-west comer of the town, on the ten 
acres reserved by him, and called by Leland "the King Mede 
without the town :" it immediately overlooked the parish 
church of St. Leonard, and commanded completely the inner 
harbour. Some remains of the clustered columns of the en- 
trance gate are yet to be seen on the side of the Pipewell or 
Ferry Gate, leading to Udimore. Until 1828 there stood a 
round or watch tower, called the Eoimdle, of which 
we subjoin an engraving from a drawing made by the late 
Mr. Stileman ; and the exact sites of both castle and watch 
tower are laid down in the map, which we have engraved from 
the original made by Mr. Stephens, in the year 1763, by 
order of Mr. Waxdroper, and now in the possession of Mr. 
Thomas Dawes. 

^ Chron. Petroburgense. Camd. Soc., pp. 116-7. 



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FLA.TE n. 




. ^rj«3KVv .-i 



STEAITO GATE. 
S.W. 




.TTuv,; £,. 



:^E^^ (GATE. 

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MODERN WINCHELSEA. 



37 




Of the three original gateways, two are standing, — the 
Strand Gate, formerly leading to the harbour, but now 
leading by the new Military road to Eye, and the New Gate, 
leading on the south of Icklesham to Pett and Fairlight: 
these were three quarters of a mile apart. The present roads 
to Rye and across the marsh to Icklesham and Hastings were 
formed at a much more recent period. We give an engraving 
of these two gates. The original Pipewell or Land Gate, 
now known as the Ferry Gate, led over the Ferry to the 
then direct road to Rye, which was by way of Udimore. 
This gate, which was situated one quarter of a mile north- 
west of the Strand Gate, has been re-built, and we shall have 
occasion to notice the present gate hereafter. 

Besides the two churches of St. Thomas (the choir of 
which is standing) and St. Giles within, and of St. Leonard 
without the walls, the house of the Gray Friars, and the 
hospital of St. Bartholomew, which had existed in the 
old town, were transferred to the new. There were also 
hospitals of St. John, and of the Holy Rood :^ and there 

^ Grose mentions a tradition that Winchelsea formerly contained four- 
teen or fifteen chapels : upon which he hazards the conjecture that these 



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38 MODERN WINCHELSEA. 

was afterwards added, in the reign of Edw. II, a house of the 
Dominicans Black Friars, or Friars Predicant. All of 
which we shall describe in the chapter on Ecclesiastical 
Foundations. Without New Gate stood the Holy Cross of 
Winchelsea. 

There were within the walls, two greens or open spaces, 
one of twelve acres called the King's Green, on the road 
from the church of St. Thomas towards New Gate, and the 
other called Cook's Green, above the hanging of the lull, at 
the north-east side of the town, near the Strand Gate. 

Water, so scarce at Rye, was amply supplied to this town 
from six open wells: — ^viz.. Pipe Well, situate near the Ferry, 
close by the entrance of the town by the former Rye road : 
St. Katherine's Well, situate half way up the hill leading 
from Rye, and below Cook's Green, the water of which is 
slightly chalybeate : the Strand Well, on the hanging of 
the hill (above the former tan yard) destroyed a few years 
since by the falling in of the cUff : the Friars' Well, now 
enclosed, situated in a field recently called the Peartree or 
Wellfield, to the east of the Gray Friars ; the New Well on 
the outside of New Gate ; and the Vale Well, now called 
St. Leonard's Well, at the north-west of the town, under 
the old castle, — of whose waters the popular belief yet re- 
mains, that when once drunken the drinker never leaves 
Winchelsea, that is, that wherever he roams his heart is still 
there ; each drinker realising Goldsmith's lines. 

In all my wand'rings round this world of care, 

* * * * 

I still had hopes, my strong vexations past, 
Here to return — and die at home at last 

The well-doing of the inhabitants was further secured by 
two market places, called Monday's Market and Little Mon- 

were appendages to so many Monastic Foundations. Grose, however, must 
have mistaken the many vaults or crypts throughout the town for chapels. 
Leland and Lambard both correctly state the number of religious houses. 



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MODERN WINCHEL8EA. 89 

day's Market, and by several Windmills. One was in the 
liberty of St. Leonard, near the spot on which a windmill 
now exists. Two others were within the grounds afterwards 
of the Black Friars, one being near the King's Green. There 
was a stone mill near Fipewell, and a windmill in the parish of 
St. Giles, in a place then called " Le Bochery," now called 
the Great Millbank, which, on 1st May, 1407, Richard Lon- 
denays, of Brede, son of Robert de Londenays, then late of 

Winchelsea, and his wife, who was sister and heiress of 

William Oxenbridge, enfeoffed to John Gyles, of Winchelsea, 
miller, of whom it was purchased in 1434, by John Godfrey, 
and came through Matilda, widow of Simon Famcombe, the 
heiress of the Godfreys, in 1477, to the abbey of Battle.^ 

Among the antique seals found within the town is one 
bearing the impression of a lion combatant or rampant, the 
arms of the Londenays, with the legend Svm Leo Fortis. 
It was doubtless the private seal of one of 
the family, and from the style may be re- 
ferred to a period not later than the middle 
of the fourteenth century. 

The town abounds with crypts and vaults, 
many of which have handsome groined roofs and corbel heads 
well- executed, affording ample store-room for the wines and 
other merchandise in which the merchants traded. 

In the Battle Abbey Records there are mentioned in con- 
nection with the parish of Icklesham, the great ditch of Iham ; 
the bank of the hill of Iham ; the bridge of Iham ; the road 
which leads from that bridge towards Winchelsea, that is by 
the Ashes Farm, entering by New Gate ; and the King's high 
road which led from Battle towards Winchelsea.* 

The thirty-nine quarters or squares, exclusive of the sites 
of the two chtirches, into which the new town was divided, 
varied in quantity. The majority were from l^a. to 2a, and 
2^a. each, but some towards the south were 8a. and 8Ja. 

» Battle Charters, pp. 96-101-114-120. ^ Addl. MSS., 6344, p. 425. 



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mm^ 



40 MODERN WlKCHELSEA, 

Notwithstanding the loss of fences they may yet be traced 
with tolerable accuracy. A glance at the map will enable us 
to foUow them. The first quarter was at Cook's Green, at 
the north-east comer of the town : thence the quarters ex- 
tended westward along the north side of the town : in the 
second quarter was the Salutation: in the third was Westbrook : 
in the fourth the Friars', that is, the Blackfriars' Orchard : 
in the fifth was the Roundle Piece. Having reached the 
northern point, the quarters went back again to the east, and 
thence again to the west, and so worked from east to west, 
southward, to the New Gate ; in the sixth quarter were the 
Pendents of the hill : in the seventh was the Bear Square : 
in the eightk^quarter was the Court House : in the ninth was 
Paradise (the house of Mr. Dawes) : in the twelfth, on the 
east, was the CliflF: between the thirteenth and fourteenth 
quarters stood the Church of St. Thomas : in the fourteenth 
was the Ballad Singer's Plat : in the seventeeth, again on the 
east, was Tinker's Garden: in the nineteenth was Little 
Monday's Market and Trojan's Hall, otherwise Jews' Hall : 
the Church of St. Giles was between the twentieth and 
twenty-first quarters: next the twenty-first quarter was 
the Great Millbank: in the twenty-second quarter, at the 
extreme west, were the Furze Banks : in the twenty-third 
quarter, beginning again on the east but westward of the 
Gray Friars, was "Little Monday's Market : in the twenty- 
eighth quarter was Monday's Market : in the twenty-ninth 
quarter was Packham Field : in the thirtieth quarter was 
*- Great Gallows Hill : in the thirty-fourth quarter was the 
Hospital of St. John : in the thirty-fifth was land near the 
Pewes : in the thirty-seventh quarter was the Coney Field, 
now part of the Gray Friars : in the thirty-eighth quarter was 
land, afterwards belonging to the Hospital of the Holyrood: 
and in the thirty-ninth and last quarter were the Hospitals of 
the Holyrood and of St. Bartholomew. 

The parsonages of St. Thomas and St. Giles were not in 



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MODERN WINCHELSEA. 41 

any quarter ; and there were several marshes^ the pendents 
of the hill, and land in the strand, without the quarters, but 
within the boundary of the town itself. The whole space 
occupied by the new town, and by that portion of the old 
parish, which is now above water, is 1120 acres> 

Boundary of Liberty. — From a MS. in the hand-writing 
of the Eev. Dr. Harris, the historian of Kent, formerly in 
the possession of Mr. Shadwell, and a copy of which was 
with the late Mr. Stileman, we find that the bounds of the 
Liberty of Winchelsea as they were taken and enrolled the 
7th day of May, in the fourth year of the reign of Edward 
the Third, A.D. 1330, were as under : — " First go from the 
Cross, without Newgate, north, along by the Town Ditch, and 
so through the midst of Fewes' Marsh to a ditch of the Manor 
of Icklesham, leading to St. Leonard's Fleet, till you come 
right against a well in Pook Lane, called Vale Well,* and so 
east, up by a little lane, lying between Crooked Acre and 
BeU Morrice, to the King's High-street ; and then north-east, 
through the lands of Thomas Alard to the street end, and so 
to the ring of Stone Mill, and so downe to Pipewell Cawsey's 
end, and so by the street at the right hand leading to the 
north and to Grind-pepper Well;^ and then as the old Ferry- 
way leadeth to the Channell, and so over the Channell 
to a fleet called White Fleet ; and as the water leadith by the 
Hopad Marsh into Kettle Fleet, and so taking in the whole 
roade of the Puddle and the Cambre along upon the Sea Coast 
where the Hermitage did stand, until a man can see Beachy 
Head, neare Bourne; and from thence through the sea to a 
wall called Court WaU, and so, west, to the Cross without 
Newgate aforesaid." 

^ Population Hetums, 1841. As the sea is receding it is difficult to 
ascertain the exact quantity : there are only 720a. 3r. 9p., exclusive of 
houses and gardens, in the Tithe Commutation. 

2 Now called St. Leonard's Well. 

^ Afterwards called the Strand Well. 

6 



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42 MODERN WINCHELSEA. 

Dr. Hatrris remarks of these bounds,— '"Limites WinchelseaEf 
stmt sicut Mare et Portus circumdant villam de Winchelseae 
usque ad ffoeod. de Gestlinges ; and that the liberty anciently 
extended to a cross standing on an old wall near Kettle Fleet, 
in North Marsh, as may be seen by depositions between Sir 
H. Guldeford and Thompson, about Fadiham Marsh, in which 
also was judged to lie the North Marsh, White Fleet 
Marsh, and that whereon stood the Castle." The point at 
which a man could see Beachey Head was at Jury's Gut, to 
which the corporation still walk as their boundary. The cor- 
poration commissioners report^ that " the jurisdiction extends 
into the parishes of Pett, Broomhill, and Icklesham. There 
is one house in Fett, about ten in Broomhill, and about six 
in Icklesham situate within it. It extends along the sea coast 
for six or seven nules. The western boundary is a point 
between the two towers numbered SI and S2, and the eastern 
runs up to Rye harbour, within half a mile of that town." 

The exact sites of the streets and places, together with the 
names of the first owners, are fully set out in a return made 
in the 20th Edward I, and yet remaining among the Ministers' 
accounts in the Carlton House Bide. The names are very 
curious. The Roll has the following opening : — These are the 
places set out, enfranchised, and on which a rent has been put, 
in the new town of Winchelsea, which is just now built, by the 
mayor and twenty-four jurats, and by Sir John de Kirkeby, 
Bishop of Ely, on the part of our Lord the King, commis- 
sioned to set out, enfranchise, and set a rent on the same places, 
who say, according to the form of their commission, that our 
Lord the King held of the land which belonged to Sir John 
Tregoz on the lull where the new town is founded, as appears 
by the extent made by Sir Stephen le Fencester and Gregory 
de Rokesle, 65| acres, of which, one acre more or less, has 
been taken ; in the whole, £8 5s. Id. They say also that the 

* Appendix II, p. 1073. 



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MODERN WINCHELSEA. 48 

heirs of John de Langherst held on the said hill^ as appears by 
the extent aforesaid^ 35^a. 18p. of land, of which, one acre 
more or less, was taken, — 52s. 0|d. They say also that John 
Bone held on the hill aforesaid, as appears by the extent, 
84|a. Slvrgs., of which, one acre more or less, was taken, 
to the value of 29s. 0|d. They say also that Gilbert de Cruce 
held on the hill, as appears by the extent, lO^a. 23p., value 
£0s. 9d. They say also that the Abbot of Battle held on the 
hill, as appears by the extent, Ifa., value 2s. 4d. They 
say also that John Moris held on the hill, as appears by the 
extent, 2a., value 32d. They say also that William and Rich- 
ard, sons of Tristram, held on the hill, as appears by the 
extent, la. with a house built upon it, value 6s. They say 
also that John Moris held on the hill, as appears by the 
extent, fa., value 12d. They say also that the heirs of 
Bartholomew Wymund and his partner, held on the lull, as 
appears by the extent, l|a., value 28. 6d. They say also 
that John, son of Reginald Alard, held in a certain place 
which is called the Trecherie, as appears by the extent, la., 
value 8s. They say also that the heirs of John Bacan held 
on the hill, as appears by the extent, Ifa. 16p. of land, 
value Ss. Id. Also that the same heirs held a certain mill 
with the site, which contains 8p., which null and site the said 
heirs held in their own hands, and is not necessary for our 
Lord the King or the town. They say also that John Moris 
and his partner, held on the lull, as appears by the extent, 
2a., value 40d. They say also that the heirs of John Bacan 
and his partner, held under the pendents of the hill, as 
appears by the extent, 2a., value 20d. Total value 
£14 lis. 5fd. Siun total of the aforesaid acres, 149fa. 
8vrgs.: of which total of the said lands are taken away 12a., 
which are retained for the use of our Lord the King, by the 
said Bishop of Ely. Also that there are taken out of the 
said total for the cemetaries of St. Thomas and St. Gill l, 5a., 
of which the right of patronage remains in the hands of our 



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44 



MODERN WINCHELSEA. 



Lord the King. Total subtracted from the land aforesaid, 
17a. ; and that there remained for the building of the town, 
out of the said total, 132 J acres and a quarter of an acre, 
and 8 virgates. And the said mayor and jurats say that of 
these 132 J acres and a quarter of an acre, and 8 perches 
of land, 87 and a half acres, and half a quarter of an acre, and 
seven and a quarter perches are set out for buildings ; and that 
there remain in waste, some for the markets, some in streets, 
and some in the pendents, which cannot be built upon, 45a., 
the 8th part of an acre, and 6f perches. Which waste, 87 and 
half acres, and a half a quarter of an acre, and 7 J perches of 
land, are charged in the sum of is £14 lis. 6f d. 

They then go on to give the names of every owner, the 
quantity of his holding, and the free rent he was to pay, in 
divisions of eight streets or ways, and 39 quarters. 

FIEST STEEET OR HIGHWAY. 



In the First Qtuirter, 



'Simon le Machon 
Stephen Blaunchpain 
Robert called Bumel 
Walter Bosce 
Thomas of Pevensey 
Robert le Meleward 
Alan de Feme 
Walter Saleme 
Henry Dagard 

Total in this quarter, la. 8 parts 12 v. 



Roger Wyliam 
Adam Schewere 
Roger Averil 
The Heirs of Adam le 

Meleward 
Thomas le Meleward 
Stephen Ryngemere 
Robert Colyn 



Nicholas Codelawe 
Peter Geneinde 
Gervase Mot 
Reginald Robert 
Stephen of Canterbury 
Waiter Johan 
Peter of Portesmouth 
Reginald Alard, junior 



rent, 4s. 0|d. 



In the Second Quarter. 



John Madour 
Clement Doning 
John Sneke 
Thomas Werterer 
Nicholas Richard 
WiUiam Pret 
The Heirs of Alan 

Buchard 
Richard of Dover 
Clement Langters 
John Folke 

Total in 



Andrew Passelewe ; Sampson Seli de Pucto 

William Blanc payn Godard Petit 

Gervase Coleman Paul Andrew of the Monas- 

Lawrence Ferbras I tery 

Gervase Frost | Nicholas Fimelyte 

John Galp I Nicholas de Apeltre 

Petronilla, relict of Cok ; Philip Matip 



Scolard 
Richard Witloc 
Walter le Botre 
Geoffiy Roberd 
this quarter, l|a. 16|v, 



Gervase Hambuc 
Richard Hambuc 
Beatrix Hambuc 



rent, 48. 11^. 



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MODERN WINCHELSEA. 



45 



In the Third Quarter, 



John, son of John Roger 
Justin Alard 
William Beanfrount 
John Large 
Stephen of Bidindene 
John of Scotenye 

Total in this quarter, l|a. half a quarter 8|y.: rent, 48. 8|d. 



Andrew of Folkestane 
William Batayle 
John Austin 
John Liteman 
Stephen Russel 



William Hamer 
Maurice Cocus (Cook) 
Petronilla Queynte 
Henry Clement 
Richard of Peyensey 



In the Fourth Quarter. 



Richard Cely 
Qoda pore Voghel 
John Treygen 
Symon of Scotenye 



Jacob, son of Thomas 

Barber 
John, son of Thomas 

Barber 



Total in this quarter, l^a. 3^y. 



Colin Alard 
Thomas Alard 
Gervase Alard, junior 
Walter de RadLele 
rent, 5s. 8|d. 



In the Fifth Quarter. 



William de Orewelle 
Thomas, son of Th. 

Weterledere 
Simon Hughet 
Margory, relict of Peter 

Austyn 
William Halfhering 



Henry le Palmer 
Joseph of Hasting 
John Orpedeman 
Walter Sand . 
Ralph Hardii^ 
Lucas Beneft 
Andrew Hard! 
John Hardi 

Total in this quarter, Ifa. 3|y. : rent, 3s. lOd. 



William atte Yelde 
Nicholas Bosce 
William Mot large 
John de Farlegh 
Poteman Bod 
John Bod 
William Romeming 



SECOND HIGHWAY. 
In the Sixth Quarter. 



Gervase le Coupre 
Gervase Skele 
Robert ate Carte 



JohnCrask 
Peter Torold 
John Jacob 



Parvus Galfridus 
Thomas Large 
Jacob de Lidehame 



Total in this quarter, ^a. half a quarter 10|v.: rent, 2s. Sfd. 
In the Seventh Quarter. 



The Heirs of Stephen 

Binder 
John de Herewyco 

(Harwich) 
Richard Finor 
Roger Toneman 
WiBiam Wade 
John Bawe 
John Batayle 



John, son of John Bo- 
chard 

John Ine 

William Mancap 

William Mazote 

Robert Stalle • 

The relict of Gabriel 
Gudloc 

John Romeming 

Philip le Seltere 



Sampson atte Crouche 
Standanore 
Peter Faber 
Elyas Lambin 
Juliana Nightyngale 
The Heirs of Richard 

de Hethe 
Alice Busch 



Total in this quarter, 2a. 8|v. : rent, 6s. lOd. 



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46 



MODERN WINCHELSEA. 



In the Eighth Quarter, 



Gervaae Alard, junior 
Nicholas Alard 
Keginald Alard, senior 
Qervase Alard, senior 



Henry Yve 
Petromlla Clobbere 
Alice, relict of Rob 

Gerveys 
Nicholas Alard 

Total in this quarter, 2|a. 18|y. : rent, Ts. lOfd. 



Thomas Alard 
William Seman 
William Mot de Hasting 
Adam Pistor 



In the Ninth Quarter. 



John of Ihame, clerk 
Robert le Barebour 
Ralph Cocus 
Adiun, called Cok of 

Wynchester 
Fote called Chepman 



Henry le Bakere, son of 

Benedict 
Roger Scappe 
Thomas Colram 
The Heirs of Richard 

Batayle 
Henry Jacob 



Total in this quarter, 2a. 13|y. : rent, 68. lOH 



Vincent Herberd 
John Pistor Witegrom 
Walter of Bertemouth 
John Pistor Wytegrom 
William Pistel 
Godfifey the clerk 
Stephen Germeyn 



In the Tenth Quarter. 



John Takesnaw 
Stephen of Wynchester 
Stephen Wyncard 
Adam Pope 
Stephen Holt 
Ralph Bertelot 
Laurence Amis 
Richard Stevening 
Stephen Wincher 
Eustace Holt 
Hugh Wymund 



The Heirs of John 

Adrian 
Ralph de Gillingham 
Christiana Welmsse 
William Quiliere 
William of Maghefeld 
William le Palmere sen 
Maurice Ingelard 
Matilda, reuct of John 

Carite 
Adam Stain 



Hamo Campion 
William Hannile 
Bartholomew Bone 
Adam Faber 
Symon Bume 
William Bakere 
John Ingelard 
The Heurs of Gervase 

Turemn 
Adam Cheke 



Total in this quarter, 2|a. 19|v. : rent, 9s. 6d. 



In the Eleventh Quarter. 



Batecok le Passur 
Thomas Alard 
Roger Mortumer 
Gervase Hughet 
John Ledelone 
John Nowynd 



Adam Weterledere 
Gabriel Tristram 
Hamod Blakeman 
Matilda Stevening 
Milicent Pig^esteil 
Wymarch Piggesteyl 



Alan Goman 
Henry Savveney 
Reynard le Palmer 
Motting Clobbere 
Richard le Coggre 
Broumeng Cristyn 



Total in this quarter, la. 25|y.: rent, 3s. 8d. 

THIRD HIGHWAY. 



In th^ Twelfth Quarter. 



William Burgeys 
John, the clerk 
John Yevegod 



John Gascoign 
Robert Codekw del ord 
JohnNase 



John Yve, son of Henry 

Yve 
Richard le Vetre 
Charles Faber 



Total in this quarter, l{a. and half a quarter of a virgate : rent, 48. 3id. 



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MODERN WINCHEL8EA. 



47 



In the Thirteenth Quarter. 



Henry of the Church 
Richard Inthelepe 
John Colekjm le Paum 
Richard Trace 
William Thursteyn 
Walter Scolloc 
William Gerveys 
Alan Brounetesone 
Richard Scot del ord 



Herbert, caUed Broun- 

ing, derk 
Petronilla Ingelberd 
Lawrence the clerk 
John Tailleur 
Petronilla,relict of John 

Purveaunce 
Johanna de Stoke 
Petronilla de Hertepole 
Richard Pace 



The Heirs of Stephen 

Comman 
John, son of John Pace 
John Streyl 
John, son of Ralph Pace 
John Seman 
Walter Songre 
Lawrence Haskard 
William Skorefeyn 
Magnus William 



Total in this quarter, 2|a. and half a quarter of a virgate : rent, 78. 6d. 



In the Fourteenth Quarter. 



Robert, son of Ralph 

Cocus fCook) 
Elecote Adam 
John Palmer, son of 

John Palmer 
Elyas Hamer 
John Pollard 
Johanna Petronilla, 

daughter of Geofi&ry 

Russel 



Robert Taunay 
Henry Bacun 
Robert le Qric 
John of Ma^efelde 
William de Brokeye 
Stephen Colram 
Nicnolas Carpenter 
Alan Maynara 



John Manekyn 
William le Aibla«ter 
Geoffiy Ponderous 
John le Dore, senior 
Benedict PenvfiEuler 
John, son or Gervase 

Alard 
The Heirs of Colewif of 

Ihame 



Total m this quarter, 2a. 12v. : rent, Gs. 10|d. 



In the Fifteenth Quarter. 



Robert Germeyn, senior, 
son of Richard Ger- 
meyn 
John Cralbere 
Stephen de Cruee 
William Hoghelyn 
Benedict le Botere 
Ralph Favel 
WiUiam de Bume 
Richard Blobbere 



Stephen Moris 
Ricnard le Ropere 
Roger de Eldinge 
Roffer Godard 
Ricnard Adam 
William Belde 
John CSiipian 
Henry Heved 
Vincent Goldine 
Geofl&y de Tened 

Total in this quarter, 2ia. half, and half | of a virgate : rent, 7s. 6|d. 



Adam Renting 
Robert Broker, near the 

mill, heir of John 

Bazan 
William Suift 
Richard Neam 
Roger Cotesone 
Jonn Lamb 
William Neel 



In the Sixteenth Quarter. 



GeoffirBanek 
John Brouning 
Bonne Botercoke 
John Ancel 
John of Dover 
John Hannile 
William Bredeware 
John of Ihame, clerk 
William Pace 

Total in this quarter, 3|a. 14|^v. : rent, lis. Id. 



John Gerveys of Peven- 

sey , 
William Godinogh 
Gervase Scopeheved 
William Scopeheved * 
Walter Spytewymbel 
John Remys 
Richard Aibard 
Hugh Page 



Richard Rucke 

Gervase Aldwyne 

Stephen Wyting 

Henry Felipe 

Robert Isonde 

Adam Stonhard 

On the side of this quar- 
ter Gervase Alard, 
junior, held one acre 



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48 



MODERN WINCHELSEA. 



FOURTH HIGHWAY. 
In the Seventeenth Qtuirter. 



John Dada 
John Kipecherl 
Nicholas Whif 
Walter Stoket 
John Bateman 
Adam Lokyere 
Lawrence ion 
Sir Roger de Leukenore 



Sir William de Echinge- 

ham 
Simon de Echingeham* 
Nicholas Pistor, forester 
Henry Seman 
Rose Ficard 
John Bakere, son of 

Benedict 



Robert Aubin 
Henry Dorivall 
Laurence Burgeys 
John Boghiere 
Matilda Beneyt 
Robert Lef 
Roger Mite Wile 
Rengerus Wylekin 



Total in this quarter, 2f a. half a quarter 5|v. : rent, 8s. Id. 



In the Eighteenth Qtmrter. 



Henry Heaved 
Robert Londeneys 
Geoflfry Trippe 
Godefry Langters 
Ad. Aleman, bochre 
Isabella Machon 
John, son of William 

Alard 
William of Canterbury 
Richard Wibelot 
William of Sandherst, 

bochre 
Simon ate Helme 
Robert le Hane 
Adam Eufeme 



Juliana, relict of Alan 
Godefrey 

John Panifader 

Gerald, called Batecok 
ate Welle 

Henry, son of John 
Aumaber(Goldsmith) 

Saleme, rehct of Wil- 
liam Maynard 

Gervase Pechun 

Matilda Bakestre 

William Trottesmale 

Richard Cocing 

Henry Comman 

Henry Port 



John Vetre 

Robert Reyne 

Robert le Botere 

Alexr of the Church 

Ralph Yring 

Geofl&y Daii 

The Heirs of Nicholas 

Quic 
John Martin 
Henry Moning 
Robert Jolivet 
John Large 
John, his son 
Reginald Carpentre 
Wuliam de la Carette 



Total in this quarter, 3|a. 9|v. : rent, 10s. 8|d. 



In the Nineteenth Quarter. 



Henry de Strode 
William de Apeltre su- 

tor 
Hamo Sutor of Rye 
Henry de Monigeham 
John, his brother 
John of Sandwych 



Gervase le Cordwaner 
William le Barebour 
Richard Scot Cotiler 
William Aurifaber 
Stephen Aurifaber 
Henry Bron 
Walter Scappe 



Reginald Alard, jimior 
Paul de Home 
Thomas Godefrey 
John Andrew 
John le Dore 
Richard Godefray 



Total in this quarter, 3ia. 7|v. : rent, 12s. 9|d. 



In the Twentieth Quarter. 



William Pate 
Walter of Scotenie 
Andrew Goddard 
Matthew Godard 
William Toly 
Henry, son of John 

Alard 
John Pontre 
Henry Bakere 



John Wallere 

Simon Saleme, Roger 

and John his brothers 
Adam of Bidindene 
Robert, son of Roger 

of Bidindene 
John Squathard 
William Aurifaber, 

brother of Stephen 



The Heirs of Mathew 

le Machon 
Godard Cocus 
John Alard 
Robert Paulyn 
Jacob Paulyn 
John Godefrey 



Total in this quarter, 3ia. 17v. : rent, Us. Id. 



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MODERN WIKCHELSEA. 



49 



In the Twenty-first Quarter. 



Agnes Panifadre 
The Rector of St Giles 
Roger Faumer 
Sampson Heaved 
William of Ihame 
John Sperke 



Robert Saleme 
Margaret, daughter of 

Stephen Roberd 
Ro^er Soutre, piscator 
Robert Yevegod 



William Kenting 
Henry Qoldine 
Sander de Brokeyejong. 
Peter Goldine 
Robert of Canterbury 



Total in this quarter, la. half a quarter 7|y. : rent, 6s. 
In the Twenty-second Quarter. 



Bartholomew Roberd 
William de Pulham 
Walter Scappe 
John Alard and Justin, 

brothers, jointly 
John Buchsurd, ingulf 
Thomas Pannoc 
Ck>k Badding 



Hamo de Marisco 
Muriele Scrith 
John Roteline 
Alexander Pistor of 

Westune 
William Grubbe 
John Noreys, pistor 



Brouningus Paumer 
Richard Quiliere 
Gervase Popelote 
Jordan, the clerk 
Stephen Speche 
William Passelewe 
John Jone sone 



Total in this quarter, 3a. 23t. : rent, 10s. 6d. 
On the side of the above Quarter. 



John de Rackele 
Walter de Marisco 



William and Richard, 
sons of Tristram le 
Frere, with a house 
Total of this land, ^a. lOv. : rent, 22fd. 



FIFTH HIGHWAY. 
In the Twenty-third Quarter. 



Richard Digon, trom- 1 Henry de la Haye 

Eour Geoflry Draneke 

n Scheylard, pistor i William Frost 
Peter Maynard John of Brede 

John Alard, son of John Peter Blosme 
Alard Robert Russel 

Hamo Cotiler I 

Total in this quarter, la. ^v. : 



Roger Mathon, bochre 
John Beneyt 
Adam Vader 
Adam £rl 
Beneyt Bochre 
WiUiam Dod 



rent, 6s. 9|d. 



In the Twenty-fourth Quarter. 



John le Palmer of 

Upredinffe 
Wiluam Heved 
Robert Germeyn, junior 
Stephen de Brokeye 
Petronilla de Brokeye, 

his mother 
Richard Germeyn, son 

of Richard 



Richard Germeyn, his 

father 
Robert Crips, pistor 
Stephen Wichon 
Bartholomew Campion 
Henry ate Merse 
Thomas Malherbe 
John Valer 
Walter de Marisco 



William de Marisco 
Givido Cissor 
Robert Spec, called Jolif 
Johanna Dore 
Henry Lovecok 
William Citeneste 
Walter ate Walle 
John Deth 



Total in this quarter, l|a. 5|v. : rent, 7s. 6|d. 



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50 



MODBBN WINCHELSEA. 



In the Tuwniy-^fth Quarter. 



Kichard de Bilesham John Picard 



William Deryng 
Sampson Cok moris 
Nicholas Albard, son of 

Bichurd Albard 
John, son of William 

Burgeys 
Ralph le Bufre 



John le Iwherst 
Petronilla of Iwherot 
John, son of B.obert 

Paulyn 
Hamo Itoberd 
Richard Bonenfant, 

clerk 



Total in this quarter, 2a. 8jv. : rent, 6s, lOd. 
Jn the Twenty'Sizth Quarter. 



William GriflSn 
Robert Gotobedde 
Lawrence Cupre 
Alexander de Brokeye, 

curt. 
Thomas Roger, pistor 
Henij Jordan 
Goldmg Pistor 



John, son of Gode&ey 

Buchard 
Adam Palmer 
Dionisius, son of Henry 

Paumre 
Mathew Songre 



Thomas Cissor 
Benedict Carite 
JohnGrik 

Robert, son of Stephen 
Aurifaber 



Robert Scalle 
William of Canterbury, 

sutor 
Henry Stronge 
Richard le Cannere 



Total in this quarter, l^a. 19y. : rent, 5s..4|d. 

SIXTH HIGHWAY. 

In the Twenty-seventh Quarter. 



Gervase Alard, senior 
Philip, son of Lawrence, 

clerk 
Robert, son of Robert 

le Hane 
Richard Bene 



Alan Dagard 
Walter Coting 
Stephen Fachel 
Nicholas Dodlef 
Thomas Dodlef, his 
brother 



John Forester, pistor 
Henry Jacob 
The Mayor of Winchel- 
sey for the time being 



Total in this quarter, 2a. half a quarter 16§v. : rent, 9s. 10|d. 
In the Twenty-Eighth Quarter. 



Thomas le Mathon 
Robert, son of John 

Valer 
Alice Cogger 
Mabile Cogger 
Juliana Gotebedde 
Dionisius Whitloc 
John Calot 
Alan Grindelof 
Adam Randulf 
MabiUe Lynleggestre 
Reginald Cokalayn 
Goda Charles 
Alexander, called Love- 

cok Redegrom 
Richard Aleyn 
Walter Longe 



John le Yischre 
William de Salcote 
Gilbert Ledzetre 
Roger Bulloc 
John ate Merse 
John Specre 
Henry of Leycestre 
Robert Chauri 
Richard Deth 
Hobert Bertelot 
John of Arundel • 
William, his brother 
Peter of Arundel 
Robert Codelawe 
William de Pulham 
Robert Withon 



William of Romene, 

pistor 
Henry Bochre 
Henry Atenende 
Jacob, son of Thomas 

Godefrey 
Lucy, called Douce 

Martin 
Theobald Pistor 
Alice, daughter of Hamo 

of Colchester 
John of Lindherst 
Mabille Pollard 
John of Portesmuth 
William Cupar de 

Apeltre 



Total in this quarter, 3|a. half a quarter 2v. : rent, 12s. 2f d. 



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MODEBN WINCHEL8BA. 



51 



Kobert le Hore 
Kobert Prest 
Simon Linct 
"Walter le Frye 
Cronnok, relict of Wile- 
man 
Ancel Candelarus 
Spaceman Cocus 
Alexander Hugheman 
Andrew Jtape 
John Faber 
Ranulf de Oclynge 
Robert of Glynde 



In the Twenty-nifUk Quarter. 

Robert of Promhell 



Stephen, son of William 

Pate 
Dionise, relict of Simon 

de Hydeme 
Philip of Bemehome 
Wilham of Odimere 
Thomas Bone 
Alan £.enting 
John Orutel 
Coraldufi Taverner 
Thomas Suift 
John Hever 



Simon Aurifaber 
John, son of John de 

Carecta 
Bartholomew, his 

brother 
Henry ate Carte 
Walter Prinkel 
Henry Vischre 
Gilbert Coggre 
Ralf^ Modt 
John Thomas 
Thomas de Green 



Total in this quarter, 2a. half a quarter lO^v. : rent, 98. Ifd. 



In the Thirtieth Qwrter. 



Agnes Panifader 
Joan Alard 
Henry Jacob 
Robert le Lodeleghe, 

pistor 
Jonn Hewe 
John Pollard 
Petronilla Brokeye 
Walter, her son 



Xawrence Cuppere 
John of Ho 
Thomas Teppe, sutor 
John, son of Reginald 

Alard 
Henry Honne 
Peter, son of William 

Kenting 
Vincent, son of Robert 

Gyteveste 

Total in this quarter, 2a. half a quarter 5|y. 



Nicholas Beilwerghte 
Alexander Rope 
Ralph Porter 
Roger Pote 
Jolm Trem 
John Schenchere 
William,son of Sampson 
called Guillot 



rent, 8s. 4|d. 



In the Thirty-firet Quarter, 



Reginald Alard, senior 
Robert Stoket 
Bate Pellipar 



Alan Yo] 
John 
rius 



lonffc, 
Andei 



1, peliparius Philip Cardinel, pelipa- 
ever, pelipa- rius 

Juliana, relict of John 
Michel 
rent, 3s. 4|d. 



John, son 
Scappe 



Total in this quarter, la. |v. 

SEVENTH HIGHWAY. 

In the Thirty-second Quarter. 

of Walter I William Burgeys I Nicholas Alard 

I John, son (^ Ralph Pate | Thomas Godafirey 
Total in this quarter, Ifa. 26v. : rent, 48. ll|d. 

In the Thirty-third Quarter. 



Godefrey Bochard 

John le Cupre 

John le Bsuiere, schip- 

werghte 
William Scot 
Robert Wlward 
Robert, son of Adam 

of Wynchester 
Gervase Andrew 
Stephen Osebam 

Total in this quarter, la. half a quarter ^iy 



Thomas White, pistor 
Adam £rl 
Roger Fikevs 
Angus Dinaer 
Jolm de Beilwerghte 
John Barete 
Agnes Pilchere 
Pagan Coggre 
Coleman Petit, sutor 



Thomas, called Boun 

Mounytt 
Robert Balloc 
Gervase Scot 
Thomas de Meydestane 
Gervase Coneman 
John Terri 
William Denote 
Walter Schyve 

rent, 5s. 5d. 



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y 



52 



MODERN WlKCttEtSEA. 



In the Thirty-fourth Quarter* 



Adam Faber 
Theobald Waltermah 
William of Chelintone 
John, son of Benedict 
le Bochre 

Total in this quarter, la. half a quarter 5y. 



John Kemese 
The house of St John 
PetroniUa, relict of Mau- 
rice Jacob 



PetroniUa^ his daughter 
Richard of Pulham 
Joce Tigelere 
John Eve 



rent, 58. 0|d. 



In the Thiriy-jifth Quarter. 



John and Bartholomew, j Adam Stonhard 
sons of John de Henry le Carect 
Carcet Walter le Granger, 

called Mite Stene 



Isabella, daughter 
Morekyn Jacob 



of 



Total in this quarter, la. half a quarter 13v. : rent, Ss. 6d. 

EIGHTH HIGHWAY. 
In the Thirty-sixth Quarter. 



Gervase Alard, senior 
Vincent Herberd 
Stephen of Bidindene 



and John oflhame, 
clerk 
Thomas Colram 



Total in this quarter, la. 14iv. : rent, 3s. 2d. 
In the Thirty-seventh Quarter. 



Vincent Herberd 
Stephen Germeyn 
Johanna, daughter of 
Maynard Comhethe 
Robert Ricard 
William Russel 
William de Esche 
The Heirs of lUlphChot 
Dionisius Mareys 

Total in this quarter, 3|a. 



William le Lung 
Sampson Heved 
John, son of Martin of 

the Church 
Thomas Boltan 
Ranulph Skele 
Stace, nis mother 
Matilda Beauchef 



William Page 
Stephen Roper 
Thomas le Mas 
Lawrence, the clerk 
Jacob, son of Thomas 

of Meydestane 
John Seman 
William Seman 



rent, 8s. 8|d. 



In tlw Thirty-eighth Quarter. 



Tho. ate Curt, bochre 
Dyn Chaper 
William de Morile, 

bochre 
William de Potesteme, 

carpentrfe 
John Mathon 



William de Schettele 
William of Brede 
Thomas Haldan 
William Lamb 
Gilbert de Cruce 
Richard Guillot of 
Kyngestone 



John Godefrey 

Alexander de Brokeye, 
curt, 

Henry Yve 

John, son of Reginald 
j Alard 
' Jacob PauljTi 



Total in this quarter, 3|a. and 19|v. : rent, 98. ll^d. 
In the Thirty-ninth Quarter. 



The house of the Holy 
Cross 



Robert, the clerk 
The house of St. Bar- 
tholomew 

Total in this quarter, 3ia. : rent 10s. 6d^ 



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MODBRN WINCHEL8EA. 



53 



These are the places enfranchised far budding, and the rents 
Jixedy under the Pendents of the HiU on the north side, in the 
land next the salt water, (salt marshes J and dangerous ai 
aUfloioings of the tide. 



Stephen Aurifaber 
Nicnolas Alard 
Henry Jacob 
Stephen Cloram 
Jolm of Maehefelde 
Justin Alard 
John Seman 
Alexander de Brokeye, 

curt 
Jacob Paulyn 
Jacob Paulyn of Upre- 

dinge 
John Takesnau 
John le Visch 
William Seman 
Henry, son of John 

Aurifaber 
John of Scotenie 
Henry Bakere 
Adam of Bidindene 
Stephen Withon 
Simon of Scotenye 
Vincent Herbera 
John Grik 

Reginald Alard, junior 
John Alard 
Oervase Alard, junior 
Thomas Godefrey 
John Andrew 
William Neel 



Stephen Moris 

Peter Goldine 

William Pate 

Henry Bacun 

Richard Baytaile 

William Batayle 

Mahende Horn 

Jacob, son of Thomas 
Barbatus 

Walter de Rackele 

John Lamb 

B^bert de Carett 

Thomas Alard 

Godard Cocus 

John Godefrey 

John Thomas 

Stephen de Brokeye 

Paul de Home 

William de Salcote 

Richard of Pevensey 

Reginald Cokaleyn 

Jo^, son of Jolm, pis- 
tor 

Robert ate Merse 

The Heirs of JohnBatan 

Geoffiy Banok 

Adam Stonhard 

William de Brokeye 

Reginald Alard, senior 



Walter Scappe 

John Pace, son of Johm 
Pace 

John Batayle 

Copyn of Lydehame 

Rooert Hane 

John Yve 

John, son of Henry Yve 

Henry Yve 

Stephen Geimeyn 

Thomas Bone, and Bar- 
tholomew his son 

Stephen of Bidindene 

Jolm Bochard, son of 
Godefrey 

Henry ate Carte 

William of Poleham 

William Mancap 

John Folke 

Richard Pate 

John Pate, his brother 

Henry Broun 

John of Ihame, clerk 

William Bingeys 

Thomas Coliam 

Gervase Alard, senior 

Robert Scalle 

John, son of Gerveya 
Alard 



Rent, 13s. 0|d. Total of the land under the Pendents 3fa. 20|y. 

Total of all the rents, £14 lis. 5|d. 
Total of the land aforesaid, ST^a. half a quarter of an acre, 7|y. 



And the said mayor and jurats say that in the 16th year of the reign of 
King Edward, about the Feast of St. James the Apostle, (25th July, 1288,) 
Sir J. de Kyrkeby, then Bishop of Ely, gave seizen to the commonalty of 
Winchelsea of all the lands and tenements in these Rolls, in the presence 
of the Sheriff of Sussex and other nobles, as well as knights, and many 
others of the said county, on the part of our lord the King, repromit- 
ting (guaranteeing) the said commonalty absolute and quiet possession, free 
from payment of the said rents from the feast above named for 
«even years succeeding; by reason of which repromission, fit)m the 

S 



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54 MODERN WINCHELSEA. 

building and rental of the town to the present time, nothing has been 
paid ; upon which repromission the will of the king is in all things 
to be performed. And for greater (certainty) the mayor and jurats, with 
the assent of the whole commonalty aforesaid, have caused to be affixed to 
this present Roll, the seal of the said commonalty. Given at Winchelsea, 
the Saturday next before the Feast of St. Michael the Archangel, in the 
20th year of our lord King Edward, 1292. 

HISTORY. 

Edward I. — The relative importance of Winchelsea to the 
neighbouring ports, at the time of its reconstruction, is evident 
jfrom the large compliment it had to furnish to the king 
towards the Cinque Ports' navy. Hastings and its members 
had twenty-one ships, each equipped and manned with twenty 
men and a master, for fifteen days, at their own cost; and temp. 
Edw. I, these twenty-one ships were thus distributed : ^ 
Winchelsea furnished ten; Rye five; Hastings three; Seaford 
and Pevensey one ; Bulverhithe, and Petit Higham, next 
Winchelsea, one; and Hidney, Grange, and Beakesboume in 
Kent, one. The new town soon realised the best hopes of its 
founders. The port was in a very flourishing condition: 
trade and merchandise flowed into its waters, and gave to the 
inhabitants an apparent security for a lengthened prosperity. 
The kiQg had his hunting seat close by, at Newenden, and 
one of his chief friends, and we believe relative, William de 
Echingham, had a large mansion, with parks and estates, in 
the adjoining town, (as it then was) of Udimore,^ to which 

^ 31 Edw. I, there is an Inspeximus stating which are the five ports and 
their services. It is there said, that Hastings is a head port, of which the 
members are Winchelsea, Rye, the Leucate of Pevensey, and Bolewere- 
heth, in the county of Sussex, and Beakesbome and Greneth, in the 
county of Kent : which port, with its aforesaid members, ought to find, 
on the king's summons, twenty-one ships, and in each ship there ought t6 
be twenty-one men, armed, equipped, &c. Bering MSS. 

2 The manor house at Udimore stood near the church : a more modem 
structure, called Court Lodge, marks the site. Between the house and the 
church, was the Little Park ; further on, in the parish of Brede, was the 
Great Pork : and these names, together with those of the Ladies' Well 



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MODERN WINCHELSEA. 



55 



the king not nnfrequendy resorted, and thence he came to 
the new and thriving town of Winchekea. When Edmund, 
the king's brother, was about to sail for Gascony, the king, 
on Srd Sept., 1294, directed the ships of the five ports 
to attend him. A general writ was directed to the warden 
of the Cinque Ports : and there was a separate writ to the 
barons and baiUffs of the two most important of the 
ports, Winchelsea and Sandwich.^ An account of the Cinque 
Ports' ships fiirnished for this expedition is preserved among 
the MSS^ in Carlton House Ride, in a petition for payment 
of the wages to the seamen* for going and returning, between 
the 7th March and the Srd May: viz. sixpence a day for each 
master, sixpence for each constable, and threepence for every 
seaman. No less than fifly ships werefiimished; of which 
Winchelsea supphed thirteen. Sandwich twelve. Rye seven, 
Dover seven, Romney five, Hythe three, and Hastings three. 



The names of the Winchelsea 
and constables, were 



vessels, and of their masters 



NAME OF VESSEL. 

La Cog St. Edward 

La Cog St. Mary 

La Plente 

La Lunge Cog 

La Nicholas 

La Holop of St. Giles 

Staw Den 
De la Bochere 
De la Faucon 
De Holop of St. Thomas 
La Margaret 
Ship de Langeton 
Ship of the Bishop of 
Durham 



MASTER. 

John Pate 
Adam Stonhard 
William Kyngesone 
Reginald Pajn 
John Muleward 
Henry Baker 

Benedict Alard 
Benedict Seman 
Gervas Touman 
Elias Lambyn 
Robert Germeyn 
Hendman Aubyn 
John Magefeld 



CONSTABLE. 

John Alard 
Edmund Andrew 
Robert atte Carte 
Robert Badding 

Henry Baker, son of 

Benedict 
Henry Alard 
Richard Spajn 
Roger Touman 
William of Iham- 
Matthew Batell 
Robert Paulyn 
William Heved 



Wood, the Great Lord's Wood, and the Little Lord's Wood, are still 
retained. In 22nd Edw. I, Wm. de Echingham obtained a survey of his 
manors, including Udimore ; and in 23rd Edw. I, a grant of free warren 
for his park as well in Brede as in Udimore. An excellent history of the 
Echynhams of Echyngham has (1849) been published by Mr. Spencer 
Hall. 

1 Rym. Feed. vol. 1, p. 809. 

* The petition is in 24 Edw. I. In the same MSS. there is another roll 
of the payments. 



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66 MOBEKN WINCHELSEA. 

As the king's foreign ajBTairs became more urgent^ the walls 
of Winchelsea were strengthened/ and the king repaired 
himself to Udimore, to be near this most important port. From 
Odymer, on 2nd November, 1295, he addressed a letter.^ 
** Vicecomtatibus Angliee de prorogando parliamento/' giving 
as a reason for proroguing parliament, the necessity of assem- 
bling and preparing a fleet for the defence of the kingdom. 
On the 5th of the same month, he there tested his writs to the 
archbishops and several bishops, directing them to remove all 
beneficed persons, who were foreigners, and within thirteen 
miles of the sea, further up into the country.^ From Odymer, 
is also dated a conmiission for the custody and defence of the 
sea coast in Kent and Sussex.^ The king subsequently left 
Udimore, but returned in a few days. On the 17th November, 
1295, he was at Bury St. Edmunds, and on the 18th at West- 
minster, but on Sunday, the 20th, the feast of St. Edmund, 
he was at Winchelsea; on 21st he was at Winchelsea and 
Odymer; on 22nd at Winchelsea and Robertsbridge,^ and 
returned thence to Westminster. The immediate danger had 
then passed: it was, however, soon to return. On Slst 
January, 1297, the king found it necessary to issue his writs 
to his officers in all the chief port towns of England, and 
among others to Winchelsea, not to suffer any person to pass 
out of England without his special license;* and, in the month 
of August following, he repaired to Winchelsea, preparatory 
to his embarkation for Flanders. On Friday, August 9th, 
the king was at Brede ; on the 10th, 1 1th, and 12th, at Odymer; 

^ Muragium Pat. 23 Edw. I. m. 7. In the same year Osbert de Spal- 
dington accounted for his expenses going with three squires, six horses, 
and several ships, from Lene to Berwick, attacking the king's enemies 
and bringing the ships to Winchelsea, a service of seventy days ; and also 
for his expenses whilst sent with Lady Eleanor, the king^s daughter, from 
Winchelsea beyond the seas. Carlton House Ride MSS. 

2 Rym. Feed. vol. 1, p. 832. Suss. Arch. vol. 2, p. 141. 

» Prynne's Hist, of King John, p. 630. * Suss. Arch. vol. 2, p. 141. 

» lb. and Rym. Feed. « Prynne's Hist, of King John, p. 729. 



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MODERN WINCHELSEA. . 67 

on ISth, at Odymer and Winchelsea; on 14th^ 15th^ and 16th^ 
at Odymer; on 17th, 18th, and l&th, at Odymer and Winchel- 
sea; and on 20th, ^Ist, and 22nd, at Odymer.^ A letter in 
French, addressed " Adolpho Regi Romanorum de festinando 
ad succursnm coniitis Flandricae," is tested, August 13, at 
Winchelsea.^ The king's writ, prohibiting the Archbishop of 
Canterbury from excommunicating any of his ministers, is 
tested at Winchelsea,^ 19th August; and there are two other 
writs tested there on 21st Ax^ust: on the following day he 
embarked, having been first attended here by the deputies 
of the nobles, with a remonstrance of the grievances of his 
kingdom, and a petition for their redress, to which he, for the 
present, returned an evasive answer, and desired the matter 
might be put off till his return. He landed in Fltoders 27th 
August. Thomas of Walsingham says,* that the king having 
gone over into Flanders to assist the Earl against the King of 
France, took up his residence for some days in the neigh- 
bourhood of Winchelsea, which was the port he had appointed 
to sail from, watching for the coming in of those of his subjects 
of the kingdom, who were to join his army. 

It was during this visit that the king met with what was 
likely to have been a serious accident, which Thomas of Wal- 
singham^ thus describes, under the title of the miracle of the 
Kiag's salvation: — ^Whilst the long was dwelling near Win- 
chelsea, he proposed to go one day to the port to take a view 
of his fleet, and having entered the town, when he had just 
ridden over against the bulwarks, and was about to survey the 
fleet at the lowest station, it happened, that he approached a 
certain windmill, of which there Were several in the town; 
and his horse being fright^ed with the noise of the tnill and 

^ Suss. Arch. Coll*, vol. 2, p. 142. Bym. Foed. vol. 1, pp. 873-5, &o. 

2 Suss. Arch. Coll., voL 2, p. 162. Rym. Feed. vol. 1, p. 873. 

3 Rym. Feed. vol. 1, 875. 

* T. Wals. p. 71, 1. 10. Addl. MSS., 6343, foL 160 and 397. 
6T.Wals.,p. 71,1. 20. 



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58 MODERN WINCHELSEA. 

with the quickly revolving sails, refused to proceed; and atf 
the horse was vigorously urged on by the king by whip and 
spur, he lept over the bulwarks: upon which, out of the 
multitude of horse and foot who followed the king, or had 
assembled to have a look at him, no one thought but that the 
king had perished, or had, at least, been stunned by the leap. 
But divine providence so disposing, the horse fell upon his 
feet, even from such a height, into a road, which, from recent 
rains, was softened with mud, into which the horse was 
able to slip for twelve feet, and yet did not fall; and being 
turned round with another bridle, by the king, he ascended 
directly to the gate, through which he entered unhurt, and 
the people, who were waiting for him, were filled with wonder 
and delight at his miraculous escape. 

On 20th October in the same year (1297,) the king directed 
the barons and commonalty of Winchelsea to proclaim the 
armistice between the King of France and himself; ^ and on 
15th December, to proclaim the enlargement of the armistice. 
On 4th February, 1298,* however, he directed them to meet 
him with their ships at Exclusos in Flanders : and at title close 
of the same year, he required their service against the Scots, 
desiring them to assemble at Skymbumese ( Kircudbright,) 
near Carlisle.^ In the year 1300, the mayor and bailiffs 
were directed by the king's writ^ riot to suffer the exportation 
of any silver from their port. On 7th November, 1302,^ the 
king again summoned their ships to Newcasde, but he was 
enabled to dispense with their service; and, on 2nd December, 
directed them to proclaim the truce between himself and the 
Scottish king. On 22nd March, 1303, a proclamation of the 
extension of the truce between France and England was 
ordered to be made here. On 12th July, peace itself was 
directed to be likewise proclaimed here: and, on 9th April, 

1 Rym. Feed., vol. 1, pp. 880-882. « ib. 886. » lb. 901. 

* Ryley, p. 482. » Rym. Feed., vol. 1, pp. 945-947-950-968-962. 



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MODERN WINCHELSEA. 



59 



1304, the king went one step further, and gave instructions 
for ships to be taken hence to aid the King of the French. 

The names of the ships last fomished by the ports for the 
war in Scotland have been preserved in a certificate/ returned 
34 Edw. I, (1306) by William de Woodforde, clerk, and 
William de Benefeld, locum-tenentes of the lord warden, in 
pursuance of a writ from Chancery, of the services due from the 
Cinque Ports. The Winchelsea return was made by Henry 
Paulyn, mayor, Thomas Alard, bailiff, and Nicholas Alard, 
Gervase Alard, junior, Vincent Herberd, Henry Alard, Henry 
Jacob, Matthew de Home, William Soman, Stephen Cobran, 
Bartholomew Bone, and Thomas Eoger, jurats : they say that 
Winchelsea^ ought to furnish five ships properly armed and 
equipped : viz. 



NAME OF VESSEL. 

The Cog Edward 
Ship La Katerine 
Cog St Thomas 
Cog Spirit 

Cog St. Giles 



MASTER. 
Adam Shipman 

Henry Weldisshe 

Robert atte Carte 

Bartholomew Robert 

Simon Boylequer 



CONSTABLES. 

Adam Bidendenter and 

Peter Paulyn 
Matthew Kingessone 

and William Heved 
William Brokex and 

Walter de Rackele 
Robert de Wynton and 

Simon Curteys de Pe- 

yense 
Peter Kentyng and 

Robert Brotex 



Whilst the ships were thus often employed for the public 
service, the merchants of the town found ample opportunities 
for prosecuting their own mercantile transactions, and some of 
the records which have reached us axe curious, as — On 18th 
June, 1294, John Alard, Hugh son of Baldwin, and Walter 
Pyl, merchants of Brabant, had the king's license to pass 
with three ships to Herewych.^ On the 10th June, 1299, 
there is a safe conduct, dated from Dover,* given to "Benet 
Soman, mestre de la Blithe de Winchelse, Bauf le Boef et 
Willm de Ihamme, mestres de la neef Dame le Cour de 

* MSS. in Chapter House, Westminster, Press z. No. 11. 

^ For this fleet Dover furnished nine ships, Rye two, and Hastings one. 

» Rym. Feed., vol. 1, p. 802. * Rot. pat. 27 Edw. I. 



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60 MODERN WINCHELSEA. 

Winchelse, et pur Beneit Carytee, mestre de la Barge de 
Winchelse, et Bobert Paixlyn pur Alexandre Badding, mastre 
de la nef La Lyttel Nanspie de Winchelse." Among the 
receipts and expenditure of the King's garderobe,^ in 29th 
Edw. I, there is the following entry, " Simoni de Waynflet, 
magistro de la ffaucon de Wynchelse, de prestito super radiis 
suis et sociorum suorum nautanun ejusdem navis. vi. marcas." 

In 31st Edw. I, (1303) Gervase Alard, of this town, was 
made admiral of the Cinque Ports* navy;* and, in the 34th 
Edw. 1, he was again admiral of their navy and admiral of the 
western ports,^ and required to proceed with them to Skym- 
bumesse to act against the Scotch. 

Embankments. — ^The new town seems, at the close of the 
first quarter of a century, to have been almost of as much note 
as the former town; yet, even thus early, the old enemy the sea, 
gave fresh causes for alarm, and the embankments required 
constant care and attention. In 29th Edw. I, (1300) there 
was an inquisition of the walls and ditches of Spadlond marsh, 
as repaired by the different tenants, against the inroad of the 
sea.* And Dugdale^ tells us, in his History of Embanking, 
only three years afterwards, that 

In 31 Edward I, (1303) the king being informed that the banks and 
ditches which had been made in the marsh of Winchelse, for the defence 
of his lands there, and preservation of the adjacent parts, were then so 
broken by the overflowing of the sea, that the said lands were in danger 
of being drowned and lost; and, that his tenants of those lands, by reason 
of a certain ancient composition made betwixt them and the tenants of 
the other lands in that marsh, which was, that the said king's lands 
should be defended by such reparations by the other land owners there, 
refused to contribute to the repair of those banks and ditches ; and 
being also informed that the tenants of the other lands were not able to 
undergo those repairs, by reason of the great expense, which would be 
requisite thereto : taking care, therefore, of his own indemnity and the 

1 Carlton Ride MSS., E.B. 2052. Ex. inf. Mr. W. H. Blaauw. 
« Pat. 31 Edw. I, m. 39. s Spehnan's Glos. p. 16. 
^Cal. Inq. p. m,, vol. 1, p. 166. ^ Dugd. c 19, 



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MODERN WINCHELSEA. 61 

preservation of those marshes, he directed his precept to Thomas Alard, 
guardian of his lands of that mar^, commanding him that he should, for 
the present occasion, cause an equal contribution to be made out of those 
lands, according to a just and proportionable tax with the said other land- 
holders, lest for want thereof, a greater loss might afterwards happen, for 
which he, the said Thomas, was to receive allowance out of the Exchequer. 
But after this, the very next ensuing year (32 Edward I,) upon an inqui- 
sition taken by Robert de Septem Vanhis, WilL de Hastings, and Rob. 
Paulyn, whom the king had assigned to take view of the banks and ditches 
in this county, and to cause them to be repaired, (which was returned 
into Chancery) it was found, that the said marsh of Winchelsea could not 
be defended and preserved by the old wall, situated towards the east, and 
that if it ought to be defended, it would be necessary to have a new bank 
there, of the length of 350 perches ; and that the said new bank could not 
be made by those who, according to the ancient composition before men- 
tioned, had wont to repair the old bank, forasmuch as they who were in 
the soil liaUe to the repairs of the said bank were not able, in regard of 
the diminution of their lands, to bear the whole charge thereof themselves. 
He, therefore, directed another precept unto the said Thomas Alard, re- 
quiring him to take care that such contribution should be made thereto 
out of his own lands and the lands of others, as is above expressed. And 
hereupon the said king issued out a commission to the said Robert, Wil- 
liam, and Robert, to see that the contribution which the said king's 
bailiff was to make therein, should be well and also faithfully assessed. 

Estates. — ^Among the particTilars of property held by 
persons connected vnth the town, in this reign, we find that in 
18 Edw. I, William Manfe and Johanna, relict of Thomas de 
Hipegne, prayed to farm the returns of the town, that they 
might receive £10, which they were accustomed to receive, and 
which was badly paid to them, whereupon it was ordered, 
that unless they were paid, they should distrain the bailiffs ; ^ 
and in the same year, Robert Paulyn, of this town, whose 
house had been destroyed by the sea, sought to be allowed to 
farm the manor of Iden.* 

Edwabd II. — ^The young King, disregarding the oath he 
had sworn to his father, to carry on with vigour the war 



1 Rot. Pari. vol. 1, 56 a. * lb. 66 b. 



9 



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6»- MODERN WINCHELSEA. 

against the Scots^ and to bear his father's bones against thent^ 
withdrew his army ingloriously from Scotland. At the 
commencement of his reign, however, he called for the ser- 
vices of the CiQque Ports against his own, and his father's 
enemies. 

In 1309 ^ the king directed his writs to Winchelsey, Bye, 
and other large ports, to prevent any earl, baron, knight, or 
notable person, from going beyond seas during his war with 
the Scots. On 2nd August, 1310,* he summoned their ships 
to Dublin and Drogheda, for service against the same enemy. 
In a fragment of the Carlton House Eide MSS.' we have a 
record of the names of the vessfels, from Winchelsea, em- 
ployed in pursuance of this order, and of their cacptains, 
with the sums paid for wages : ^' Wynchelse, GerVasio Tone- 
man, magistro navis que Vocatur, Cog Edward, ii., Constabu- 
lariis at Ivii. sociis suis nautis predicte navis pro radiis suis 
per XV. dies ; xi/. xvi«. iiirf. ; viz., magistro capiente per diem, 
Yid.; et cuilibet constabulariorum per diem, virf.; et cuilibet 
nautanmi per diem, iiic^. ; siunma xi/. xvi^. iii^. Reginaldo 
Payn, magistro navis que vocatur Sante Marie cog," &c., in 
the same words. 

On 26th June, 1313,* John de Insula and Robert de 
Halliwell, were directed to arrest and take thirty of the best 
ships that could be found between Plymouth and Shoreham, 
with the best men, and all that should be in the port of Win- 
chelsey, for the king's service. On 1st April, 1314, the 
king^ summoned the ships of Winchelsey and the other 
ports, to be at Skymbumesse on the nativity of St. John the 
Baptist, ready to proceed against Robert de Brus and his 
confederates. The ships of most of the ports disobeyed the 
order, and an inquisition was thereupon taken with the view 
of amercing them ; but in their return, the men of Winchelsea 



1 Rym. Foed. vol. 2, pt. 1, p. 95. « lb. 1 14. ' Ex. inf., Mr. W. H. Blaauw. 
*Rym. Foed. vol. 2, pt. 1, p. 223. *Ib. 246. 



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MODEEX WINCHELSEA. 63 

adroitly excused themselves, by declaring ^ that they had sent 

two ships (less, however, than their proper number) which 

were unable to get up, owing to contrary winds and stress of 
weather. 

The customary wrecking propensities of the Sussex men, 
early showed themselves at Winchelsey, Eye, and Romney. 
In 8th Edw. II, (1314-5) they were not only concerned in 
plundering the wreck of a vessel called the Blessed Mary of 
Fonte Arabia, laden with goods of very great value, and 
going to Gascony, and wrecked off the bank of Aungemaris 
(Dungeness,) but the king was petitioned to prosecute an 
enqxiiry,* the taking of whjph they had impeded. 

And their true character was shown in 1321, by one of their 
full armed ships, with a ship of Greenwich, plundering a ship 
of Albrith de Breme, a German merchant, driving the master 
and nine men out of the ship, pursuing them on land, and 
killing one of them, Wulrich de Breme.' 

Charters Confirmed. — On the 26th July, 7 Edw. II, 
(1313) the king granted the following Charter to the men 
of the new town, reciting and confirming the Charters which 
Henry II, Richard, and John had granted to the two towns 
of Winchelsea and Eye. 

Piao HOMiNiBUS DE RiA ET Wynchelse.* Rex Archiepiscopis, &c., 
fialutem. Inspeximus cartam quam Dominus Ricardus quondam Rex 
Anglise progenitor noster &cit hominibus de Bia et de Wynchelse in hfBC 
verba. Bieardus, Dei gr&tik, Rex Angliae, Dux Normannice, Aquitaniee, 
Comes AndegaTise, Archiepiscopis, Episcopis, Abbatibus, Comitibus, Baro- 
nibus, Justiciariis, Vicecomitibus praepositis, Baillivis, Castellanis, et om- 
nibus fidelibus suis totius terrce suae, Salutem. Sciatis nos concessisse et 
preesenti carta nostra confirmasse, quod homines de Ria et de Wynchenesell', 
sint liberi et quieti per totam terram nostram citra mare et ultra ab omni 
theolonio, et lestagio, et tallagio, et passagio, et chaiagio, et rivagio, et 
sponsagio, et omni Wrec, et de Rocato, et de omnibus consuetudinibus per 
totam terram nostram quocumque yenerint Concedimus etiam eis quod 
habeant inyentiones in mari et terra, et quod sint quieti de omnibus rebus 
suis et de toto mercato suo sicut nostai liberi homines. Precipimuse tiam 

iMSS. in Chapter-house, West., 8 Edward D, Kent bag. No. 12. 
2 Bot. Pari. vol. 1, 329 b. « lb., 397 a. * Charter Boll, 7 Edw. 2, No. 47. 



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64 MODERN WINCHELSEA. 

quod nullus eos Tel res eorum disturbet super decern librarum forisfactu- 
ram et quod sint quieti de syris et de hondredis et si quis versus illos 
placitare yoluerit non respondeant neque placitent aliter quam Barones de 
Hastingiis et de quinque portibus pladtant et in tempore Henrici patris 
nostri placitare solebant. Pro hiis etiam libertatibus invenient ad plenariimi 
servitium nostrum duas naves ad perficiendum numerum viginti navium de 
Hastingiis. H»c autem omnia suprascripta concedimus et prssenti carta 
nostra confirmavimus hominibus de Ria et hominibus de Wynchenesell% 
sicut pater noster eis concessit et carta sua confirmavit. Hiis testibus, 
Jobanne de Pratell', Rogero de Pratell', Dapifero nostro Ricardo de 
Caumvill', etpluribus aliis. Data per manum Magistri Rogeri-Mali catuli 
clerici nostri apud Messanam xxvii., die Martii regni nostri anno secundo* 
Inspeximus etiam cartam quam Dominus Johannes quondam Rex 
Angliee progenitor noster fecit proedicts hominibus in hsec verba. Jo- 
hannes, Dei gratia, Rex Anglioe, Dominus HibemisB, Dux Normanniffi, 
Aquitaniae, et Comes Andegavise, Arohiepiscopis, Episcopis, Abbatibus, 
Comitibus, Baronibus, Justiciariis, Vicecomitibus prsepositis, Ballivis, 
Castellanis, et omnibus fidelibus totius teme su», Salutem. Sciatis nos 
concessisse et prsesenti carta nostra confirmasse, quod homines de Ria et 
Wynchelese sint liberi et quieti per totam terram nostram citra mare et 
ultra, ab omni thelonio, et lestagio, et tallagio, et passagio, et cayagio, et 
rivagio, et sponsagio, et omni Wrec, et de Rocato, et de omnibus 
consuetudinibus per totam terram nostram quocumque venerint. Concedir 
mus etiam eis quod habeant inventiones in mari et terra, et quod sint 
quieti de omnibus rebus suis et de toto mercato suo sicut nostri liberi 
homines. Frsecipimus. etiam quod nullus eos vel res eorum disturbet 
super decem librarum forisfacturam. Et quod sint quieti de syris et 
hundredis, et si quis versus illos placitare voluerit non respondeant neque 
placitent aliter quam Barones de Hastinges et de quinque portibus placi- 
tant et in tempore Henrici Regis patris nostri placitare solebant. Fro 
hiis etiam libertatibus invenient ad plenarium servitium nostrum duas 
naves ad perficiendum numerum viginti navium de Hastinges. Hsec etiam 
omnia suprascripta concedimus et praesenti carta nostra confirmavimus 
hominibus de Rya et hominibus de Wyncheles', sicut pater noster eis con- 
cessit et carta sua confirmavit et sicut carta Regis Ricardi fratris nostri 
quam inde habent rationabiliter testatur. Testibus, R. Comite Cestr,' 
Comite David, Comite W. Sarum, R. Constabulario Cestr', Willielmo de 
Breosa, Willielmo Briwere, Sayero' de Quency, Roberto filio Walteri, 
Willielmo de Alben'. Data per manum Hugonis de Well', Archidiaconi 
Weir, apud Stok' sexto die Junii anno regni nostri septimo. Nos 
autem concessiones et confirmationes prsedictas ratas habentes et gratas 
eas pro nobis et hseredibus nostris quantum in nobis est pnefatis 



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MODERN WINCHELSEA. 



65 



liomiiiibus de Rya et WyncheW, hseredibufi et successoribus suisy 
concedimus et confirmayimus sicut cartae prsedictse rationabiliter testantur. 
Hiis testibus, Venerabilibus pataibus, W^ Wygomiae, J. Bathonise et 
"Wellen', et W. Exon', Episcopis, Gilberto de Clare Comite Gloucestrue 
et Hertford', Johanne de Britannia Comite Bichemond, Adomaro de 
Valencia Comite Pembroke, Hugone le Despenser, Roberto filio Pa- 
gani, Edmundo de Malo lacu Senescallo Hospidi nottri et aliis. Data 
per manum nostram apud Westmonasterium xxyi die Julii. Per ipsimi 
Regem et consilium. 

Walls. — ^When the Mayor and Barons kad obtained this 
confirmation of their charters, they, in 15th Edw. II, (1321-2) 
by the King's command/ repaired the walls, and enclosed the 
town with a ditch round the place; but, in so doing, they took 
in a large part of the tenements of the Abbot of Fischampe in 
Iham, upon which, in the same year, the abbot prayed for 
an indemnity by exchange or otherwise.^ It was at this time, 
therefore, that the greater part of the liberty of St. Leonards 
came within the walls of the town. A portion of the Castle 
Fields still pays a free rent to the manor pf Brede. 
Governor, &c. — Sir Thomas Colbpbpper, who was 

governor of Winchelsea at that 
period of the king's reign, as 
well as governor of Leeds castle, 
took part with Thomas Earl 
of Lancaster,^ the grandson of 
-^ Henry III, and leader of the 
Barons. Philpots, in his His- 
tory of Kent, says, with little 
probability, that he defended 
Winchelsea to aid the rebellious 
barons, for the principal scene of 
the contest was in Yorkshire. 
Sir Thomas, however, suffered 
with his great leader, (according 
to Weever) without having the 

* Muragium pro. Winchelse et Sandwich, Rot. pat. part 1, m. 19. 
2 Rot. Pari. vol. 1, 393 b. sHollinshed, p. 331. 





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66 MODERN WINCHELSEA. 

honor of being, like the earl, beheaded, but he was "hanged,^ 
drawn, and quartered." 

Towards the close of the reign of this wayward monarch, 
the ships of the ports were again required for service.^ 

On 13th April, 13^3, writs* were directed by the king to 
the mayor, barons, and bailiffs of Winchelsea, and to the other 
ports, to have the 57 ships they were obliged to fiimish, and 
27 other ships, well equipped and furnished, at Dalkey, near 
Dublin, and to proceed thence against the Scots, the king's 
enemies and rebels. And, on 10th May, 1324, the ships ^ of 
Winchelsea were directed to be prepared for service, and to be 
at Portsmouth ready for the king's expedition into Aquitaine. 
The last service required of them, was after Phillipa of Hain- 
ault had landed at Orwell. On 24th Sept., 1326, the king 
sent his writ* to Winchelsea amongst many other places, 
dated from Marsfield, requiring the mayor and bailiffs dili- 
gently to search their port for, and arrest or report all suspected 
persons, particularly foreigners. 

Property. — Few notices of the property, held in the town 
during this reign, have reached us. In 1 Edward II, there 
was an inquisition ad quod dampnum (No. 114) for Robert de 
Langhurste, for lands in this town. Among the Dering MSS. 
is a charter, 32nd Edw. II, wherein Joan Thogar, daughter 
and heir of Simon Thogar, grants to her uncle, William 
Bertam, of Iham, lands, &c., in Dengemarsh; and amongst the 
witnesses we have Gervas Alard, junior, mayor of Winchelsea, 
and Robert Paulin, bailiff of Iham. We find also,^ in the 
same year, a release from Godfrey, the son of Alan Godfrey, 
of Winchelsea, to his brother Theobald, of property in the 
neighbourhood; and, that in 14th Edw. II, lands and 

' 1 In 15 Edward 11, the sum of £27 4s. was allowed to Margaret, widow 
and executrix of William de Greye, for a voyage from Dublin to 
Winchelsea, during the war with Scotland. Rot. Pari. vol. 1, 389 b. 

8Rym. Feed. vol. 2, pt. 1, p. 516. ^Ib. p. 552. *Ib. p. 642. 

«Cal. Rot. orig. vol. 1, p. 308. 



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MODERN WINCHELSEA. 67 

tenements in the town of Winchelsea and marsh of Iham 
escheated to the crown, by the death and bastardy of John> 
illegitimate son of John de EaHe.^ 

In this reign, Robert Battail, of Winchelsea, was admiral 
of the Cinque Ports fleet ;^ and in the 18th year of this reign 
(1324,) Stephen Alard was captain and admiral of the Cinque 
Ports' navy and of the King's fleet, in the western seas.' 

It was during this reign that the religious house of the 
Blackfriars or Friars' Preachers, was founded by the king. 

Edward III. — The townsmen did not at first take very 
kindly to these new comers of the Friars ; and among other 
places where the religious and townsmen quarrelled and came 
to blows, in 1327,* Winchelsea is mentioned. And on 3rd 
April, 1327, the mayor and bailiffs were not to allow any friar 
predicant, friar minor, carmelite, or aay other religious man 
to go out of the kingdom vnthout license.^ 

The new King very soon required the naval aid of the 
ports. On 5th April, 1827, he commanded Winchelsea and 
the other ports, to meet him at Skyburnesse, that the presence 
of a naval force might expedite his negociation for peace 
with Robert de Brus.® The negociation did not proceed so 
prosperously as the king expected, and, on 29th April, he 
required the aid of other towns to resist the invasion of 
England. The men of Winchelsea remained true to the 
naval duties they owed to their sovereign, and to their own 
peculiar notions of dealing with the ships of other nations : 
we find, that on 30th April, 1327, Edward was obliged 
to assure the Burgomasters of Bruges, that if they would 
state their claims, he would give them redress for the inju- 
ries inflicted on them by the capture of one of their ships, 
after the truce had been agreed on, by certain ^^ malefactores 
de villis de Sandwico et Winchelse." "^ 

1 Rot. Pari. vol. 1, 168 a. » lb. vol. 2, p. 413. ^ Pat. pt. 1, m. 22. 
*Hist. and Antiq. Univ. Ox., vol. 1, p. 63. *Rym, Feed. vol. 2, p. 701. 
»Ib., p. 703. 7 lb., p. 705, 



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68 



MODERN WINCHELSEA. 



In Dec, 1830, the mayor and bailiffs were required to 
search the port and take care that John Mautrayers and others 
did not escape the kingdom.^ On 20th Sept., 1335, the king 
directed his -writs to them and others, that no exchange of 
florins or other money to be carried out of the kingdom, 
should take place, except according to the exchange which 
had been committed to William de la Fole.^ 

An account of the ships furnished this year, (9 £dw. Ill,) 
by the Cinque Ports, is extant among the MSS. in the Carlton 
House Bide. The number of ships furnished was thirty, of 
which Winchekea' supplied these nine : 



NAME OF VESSEL. 


TONS, 


La BHdi 


160 


La Laurence 


140 


La Cog John 


140 


La Jonete 


130 


La James 


120 


La James Coleyn 


100 


La Andrew 


100 


La Margaret • 


100 


La Lightfote 


100 



MASTER. 
Oervase Whything 
John Koger 
John Alard 
Bichard Swaine 
Stephen Lambyn 
Gilbert Careman 
Walter Glaimde 
John Henry 
John Downey 



CONSTABLE. 

John Adrian 
Richard Large 
Benedict Cely 
Walter Saleme 
Henry de Bedinden 
Bofi^er Kyldar 
Wmiam rotacaa 
Philip de Oxene 
Thomas Codelowe 



Making a total of 1090 tons : the wages^ at 6d. a day for 
each master^ 6d. for each constable^ and 3d. for each man^ 
amounted to £145 9s. 3d. 

In the following year, 6th Nov., 1336, the ships of this 
town, with all the western fleet, were required to rendezvous 
at Portsmouth.* And in the same year the mayor and baili& 
were directed not to permit the exportation of wool or woollen 
goods of any art, device, or colour, until the full duty had 
been paid.* 



* Rym. Feed. vol. 2. p. 801. »Ib. 922. 

3 Bye furnished the four following:* 

NAME. TONS. 

La Michael 240 

La Edmund 170 

La Nicholas 120 
La Palmere 60 



MASTER. 

John Pennethome 
Kalph Hombroys 
John Yefeeod 
William Floure 



CONSTABLE. 

Robert Qoldwyn 
Helyas atte Halle 
Bichard Gaylard 
Stephen Alard 



Making a total of 590 tons; and the wages of the seamen 84a. 9d. 
*Bym. Feed. vol. 2, p. 951. »Ib., p. 944. 



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MODERN WINCHELSEA. b9 

The attacks of the French along the southern coasts were 
carried on with great vigour during this reign. Speaking of 
the year, 1337, Joseph Barnes^ says, — ^^' About this time there 
came a fleet of Frenchmen, consisting of twenty great ships, 
fifteen smaller ones, and thirty-two gatlies, riding before the 
Sandwich haven, and they durst not take land because they 
saw the county Militia ready up to receive them. Thence, 
therefore, they tacked about to Rye, where they did much 
mischief; but while they were there a squadron of English 
came up with them, whereupon the Frenchmen hoisted sail 
and fled before them, the English all the while making after 
them with a fall sail till they came to Boulogne, where they 
set fire to part of the town, and hanged twelve captains of the 
fleet, whom, among others, they had taken." The extent of 
the mischief done at Winchelsea and Bye in this attack, is 
evidenced in two inquisitions still preserved among the Carl- 
ton Bide MSS. The first was taken at the close of the 20th 
Edw. Ill, (1347) before William de Bellerd, John de Bredon, 
and others, and shows that in ninety-four houses in Winchelsea,. 
there was not then, and had not been, for several years before, 
any thing on which a distress could be levied for the King's 
rents, no one having been able to inhabit them ; and that fifty- 
two tenements and one mill at Eye, which had been burnt by 
the French, and which paid yearly 38s. 4 Jd., were not re-built, 
except a few, which, from the feast of All Saints then last, had 
begun to be inhabited. The same return was made to a like 
inquisition in the 30th Edw. Ill, (1356.) 

Navy, &c.— In 13 Edw. Ill, (1339) the ships of the Cinque 
Ports and of the Thames, under the Earl of Huntingdon, 
were directed to rendezvous here, and all persons having 
charters of pardon were required to repair hither in the 
service of the navy.^ 

In the same year, when eighteen Flemish vessels had taken 

1 Hist Edw. in, p. 137. 2 Rot Pari., vol. 2, 108 a. 

10 



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70 MODERN WINCHELSEA. 

several English vessels, laden with wool and other merchandise, 
the king directed the mayor, bailiffs, and collectors of many 
ports, and among them of Winchelsea, to take great care that 
the Flemish ships were prevented from escaping, if they should 
come into any of these ports.^ And, on 6th Oct., 1340, the 
mayor was directed to proclaim the truce, which had just been 
concluded between the King and Philip of Valois.^ 

The attacks of the French still continued, and on 12th 
Feb., 1341, many towns, including Winchelsea, were required 
to send the names of two ships that could be used for a 
channel fleet to protect the coast.^ 

In the same year, Winchelsea is named as one of the ports 
from which wool might be exported,* on payment of a customs 
duty of 50s. a bag.^ 

In April, 1342, when the maritime affairs of the country 
were in great danger, several of the chief ports, including 
Winchelsea, were required to send two of the best and most 
discreet naval men of the port to Westminster to consult and 
advise with the king.^ And, on 20th Jime, in the same year, 
the mayor aad bailiffs of this town were required to ftimish 
their quota of ships to assemble at Portsmouth, and transport 
William de Bohiui, Earl of Northampton, and his fleet into 
Brittany.''^ Two years afterwards, on 6th February, 1844, the 
king again commanded the mayor and bailiffs to send two of 
the most sufficient men and of the best naval knowledge to 
London to meet other naval men and consult on the state of the 
navy.^ A few days afterwards, 9th February, the mayor and 
bailiflfe of this town, amongst others, were commanded not to 
let any eaxl, baron, knight, or esquire, or any other armed 
person, or religious person, or pilgrim, depart the kingdom 

iRym.Foed.,vol.2, p. 1078. ^ib. p.ll37. sJb.p. 1150. *Ib.p.ll5a 
' 5 In this year, John, Duke of Brittany and Earl of Richmond, died 
seized of the lastage in Winchelsea. Cal. Inq. p. m., vol. 2, p. 100. 

« Rym. Feed., vol. 2, p. 1193. ^ lb. p. 1201. 

® lb., vol. 3, p. 4. Rye, Hastings, and Seaford, sent only one man each. 



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MODERN WINCHELSEA. 71 

without the king's special license. And, on the 12th of the 
same month, they were commanded to search all persons going 
out of the port, and see that they did not take out of the 
kingdom any coin, or silver plate, or gold or silver vessels.^ 
The townspeople did not very carefiiUy carry out the royal 
commands for preventing persons from departing the realm 
without license ; and on 25th March, when eight ships of the 
Cinque Ports were sunmioned for preparation, a special writ 
was sent to the mayor and bailiflfs, again enjoining the former 
order, which, as the king had been roformed, had not been 
attended to : many men, as well military as travellers, having 
been allowed to go out from Winchelsea and others of the 
ports.2 On the 10th July, 1346, immediately before Edward's 
expedition to France, the mayor and bailiffs of this town,^ as 
well as of London, Dover, and Sandwich, which were then 
the chief ports for embarkation, were enjoined to keep such 
strict watch in their respective ports that no one might by 
any means pass therefrom to foreign ports, for eight days, 
except those who were going with Hugh de Hastings, who 
had been appointed, on 20th June, Captain General of the 
king's forces in Flanders, in the king's service to that coun- 
try. This order was to prevent spies from carrying the 
kiQg's secrets to his enemies. 

The victory of Crecy for a time gave the ascendency to 
Edward. His army, however, were very short of supplies ; and 
on 6th September, 1846, the king desired proclamation to be 
made at WiQchelsea and many other towns, that, whoever 
would take victuals, bows, arrows, or bow strings to Calais, 
for the supply of the army, should be protected from loss or 
molestation, and should be free to sell their commodities for 
such price as might be agreed upon between the buyer and 
seller.* In the month of February, 1347, two of their best 
informed naval men were again summoned to advise the king 

1 Rym, Feed., vol, 3, p. 5. = ib. p. 10. ^ n,. p. 85. * lb. p. 90. 



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72 



MODERN WINCHELSEA. 



vn the state of the navy, which was again in danger ; and, on 
the same day, the 15th, the mayor and bailiffs were required 
to arrest such ships as they could find, and detain them in 
port ready for the public service.^ 

The Seige of Calais was at this time occupying all the 
attention and exercising all the energies of Edward. A list 
of the fleet employed by him at the seige is still extant,^ and 
shows how valuable a naval town Winchelsea then was. The 
King^s ships were 26, carrying 419 mariners, being some- 
what less than 17 men to a ship ; and the number of the whole 
fleet was 700 ships, manned with 14,151 mariners, which, 
upon the general average, was litde more than 20 men to a 
ship. Among the south fleet, were — 



Winchelsea 
Hastings - 



- ships - 21 
mariners 596 

- ships - 5 
mariners 96 



Rye - - - ships - 9 

mariners 156 

Seaford - - ships - 6 

mariners 80 



Winchelsea supplied the largest number of ships and men 
to this fleet of all the forty-nine southern ports, except London ; 
Feversham, which supplied 22 ships, but only 504 mariners ; 
Dartmouth; Plymouth; Fowey ; Bristol; and Southampton: 
the last supplied the same number of ships, 21, but only 
676 mariners. 

Ship Building. — ^At this period Winchelsea was a good 
place for building ships. The king had not many ships of his 
own; but we find, among the Carlton House Kide MSS., some 
interesting particulars of the making and re-making of royal ves- 
sels, and of the wages of the workmen. They are in an account 
rendered 7th Dec, 1352, by Richard Large of Winchelsea, 
master of the Kiag's Cog Thomas, from 25th August, 1347, 
(21st Edw. Ill) when he was appointed to the mastership, to 
22nd August, 1349 : he accounts for the receipt of £390, and 
for the expenditure of £377 2s. 5d. iq some slight repairs of 
the Thomas, and for the malring of two skumers, one named 



J Rym. Foed., vol. 3, p. 106-7. 



« Arch., vol. 6, p. 213. 



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MODERN WINCHELSEA. 7S 

the John and the other the Jonette^ out of a galley or cog 
called the John, under the survey of William Elewayre, clerk. 
The whole work seems to have extended over a period of 176 
days. The shipwrights were employed on an average ISO 
days : the best were paid sixpence a day each, (the same rate 
as a master of one of the Cinque Ports' ships,) others received 
fivepence a day, others fourpence, and the common workmen 
threepence a day. The sawyers were employed 28 days, at five- 
pence a day each : the casdewrights 50 days, at sixpence a day 
each : watchers were employed for 175 days, at threepence 
a day each : and men were employed to dig a way out of the 
float for three days, at threepence a day each. 

Gallants of Fowby, &c. — ^The bravery of the men of 
Winchelsea was accompanied with somewhat of unnecessary 
insolence, which was well repressed by the men of Fowey. 
Carew^ says, that the ships of Fowey sailing by Bye and 
Winchelsey about this time, would vale no bonnet, being 
required, whereupon the Rye and Winchelsey men and they 
fought, when the Fowey men had the victory, and thereupon 
bore their arms next with the arms of Kye and Winchelsey, 
and thence rose the name of "The Gallaunts of Fowey." 

On 28th Oct., 1347, the mayor and bailifis were commanded 
not to permit any knights or armed men to go out of their 
port without the king's special license.^ The surrender of 
Calais did not immediately terminate Edward's difficulties in 
France ; and as he needed support and supplies there, he, on 
1st Oct., 1348, reqxdred the mayor and bailiffs of WiQchelsea 
to unlade any vessels in the port that might be laden with 
wool or other merchandise, and send them to meet the other 
ships at Sandwich.' 

After the pestilence of 1349, the country having been 
much depopulated, and the public treasury being very much 



1 Survey of ComwaU, B. 2, fol. 134-135. Addl. MSS., 6344, p. 153. 

2 Rym. Feed., toI. 3, p. 141. ^ lb. p. 174. 



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74 MODERN WINCHELSEA. 

exhausted, the king directed the mayor and bailiffs not to 
permit any one except a merchant, notary, or king's messenger, 
to leave the port.^ On 23rd July, 1350, they were again 
commanded to prevent any earl, &c., from going out of the 
port.^ The town appears in all the writs directed to the prin- 
cipal towns in the kingdom, during this reign, whether to 
prevent the exportation of com, iron, or food, to any place 
except Calais; or any horses, falcons, woollen thread, or linen; 
or to stop military persons, or persons carrying the secrets 
of the king, or travellers departing the realm ; or to regulate 
the price of wine ; or to observe the truces ; or to further 
any other public object. 

Naval Engagement off Winchelsea. — On the 29th 
August, 1350, was fought, off Winchelsea, the celebrated 
engagement with the Spaniards; the English fleet being 
commanded by the King in person, assisted by Edward the 
Black Prince. Froissart,^ in his Chronicle, gives a full and 
graphic account of this fight. "When the Spaniards," he says, 
"had completed their cargoes and laden their vessels with linen 
cloths, and whatever they imagined would be profitable in 
their own country, they embarked on board their fleet at Sluys 
(in Flanders.) They knew they should meet the English, 
but were indifferent about it, fox they had marvellously 
provided themselves with all sorts of waxlike ammunition; 
such as bolts for cross-bowes, cannon, and bars of forged iron 
to throw on the enemy, in hopes, with the assistance of great 
stones, to sink him. When they weighed anchor, the wind 
was favourable for them ; there were forty large vessels, of 
such a size and so beautifol, it was a fine sight to see them 
under sail. Near the top of their masts were small castles, 
ftdl of flints and stones, and a soldier to guard them; and 
there also was the flag-staff, from whence fluttered their 
streamers in the wind, that it was pleasant to look at them. 

1 Rym. Feed., vol. 3, p. 191. « lb. p. 199. 

3Johnes'Ed., vol. 1, p. 197. 



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MODERN WINCHELSEA. 75 

If the EngKsh had a great desire to meet them, it seemed as 
if the Spaniards were still more eager for it, as will hereafter 
appear. The Spaniards were ftdl ten thousand men, including 
aE sorts of soldiers they had enlisted when in Flanders ; this 
made them feel sufficient courage not to fear the combat 
with the King of England, and whatever force he might have 
at sea. Intending to engage the English fleet, they advanced 
with a favourable wind until they came opposite to Calais. 
The King of England being at sea, had very distinctly ex- 
plained to all his knights the order of battle he would have 
them follow : he had appointed the Lord Robert de Namur to 
the command of a ship called Le Salle du Roi, on board of 
which was all his household. The King posted himself in the 
fore part of his own ship: he was dressed in a black velvet 
jacket, and wore on his head a small hat of beaver, which 
became him much. He was that day, as I was told by those 
who were present, as joyous as he ever was in his life, and 
ordered his minstrils to play before him a German dance, 
^ Sir John Chandos,' which delighted him greatly. From time 
to time he looked up to the castle on Ids mast, where he had 
placed a watch to inform him when the Spaniards were in 
sight. Whilst the king was thus amusing himself with his 
knights, who were happy in seeing him so gay, the watch, 
who had observed a fleet, cried out, ^Ho ! I spy a ship, and 
it appears to me to be a Spaniard.* The minstrils were 
silenced, and he was asked if there were more than one : soon 
after he replied, ^Yes: I see two, three, four, and so many 
that, God help me, I cannot count them !' The king and his 
knights then knew they must be the Spaniards. The 
trumpets were ordered to sound, and the ships to form a line 
of battle for the combat, as they were aware that since the 
enemy came in such force, it could not be avoided. It was, 
however, rather late, about the hour of vespers. The king 
ordered wine to be brought, which he and his knights drank ; 
when each fixed their helmets on their heads. The Spani^ds 



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76 MODERN WINCHELSEA. 

now drew near; they might easily have refused the battle, if 
they had chosen it, for they were well freighted, in large 
ships, and had the wind in their favour. They could have 
avoided speaking with the English if they had wiUed, but 
their pride and presumption made them act otherwise. They 
disdained to sail by, but bore instantly down on them, and 
commenced the battle. 

" When the King of England saw from his ship their order 
of battle, he ordered the person who managed his vessel, 
saying, ^Lay me along side the Spaniard, who is bearing down 
on us; for I will have a tilt with him.' The master dared 
not disobey the king's order, but laid his ship ready for the 
Spaniard, who was coming frdl sail. The king's ship was 
large and stiff, otherwise she would have been sunk, for that 
of the enemy was a great one, and the shock of their meeting 
was more like the crash of a torrent or tempest; the rebound 
caused the castle in the king's ship to encounter that of the 
Spaniard, so that the mast of the latter was broken, and all 
in the castle fell with it into the sea, when they were drowned. 
The English vessel, however, suffered, and let in water, which 
the knights cleared, and stopped the leak, without telling the 
king any thing of the matter. Upon examining the vessel he 
had engaged lying before him, he said, ^Grapple my ship 
with that, for I will have possession of her.' His knights 
replied, ^Let her go her way: you shall have better than her.' 
That vessel sailed on, and another large ship bore down, and 
grappled with chains and hooks to that of the king. The 
fight now began in earnest, and the archers and cross-bowes, 
on each side, were eager to shoot and defend themselves. 
The battle was not in one place, but in ten or twelve at a 
time. Whenever either party found themselves equal to the 
enemy, or superior, they instantly grappled, when grand 
deeds of arms were performed. The English had not any 
advantage; and the Spanish ships were much larger and 
higher than their opponents, which gave them a great supe- 



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MODERN WINCHELSEA. 77 

riority in shootings and casting stones and iron bars on board 
their enemy, which annoyed them exceedingly. The knights 
on board the king's ship were in danger of sinking, for the 
leak admitted water: this made them more eager to conquer 
the vessel they were grappled to: many gallant deeds were 
done; and at last they gained the ship, and flung all they 
found in it oyerboard, haying quitted their own ship. They 
continued the combat against the Spaniards, who fought 
valiantly, and whose cross-bowmen shot such bolts of iron 
as greatly distressed the English. 

'' This sea fight between the English and Spaniards, was 
well and hardy fought; but, as night was coming on, the 
English exerted themselves to do their duty well, and dis- 
comfit their enemies. The Spaniards, who are used to the 
sea, and were in large ships, acquitted themselves to the utmost 
of their power. The young Prince of Wales and his division 
were engaged apart: his ship was grappled by a great 
Spaniard, when he and his knights suffered much; for she 
had so many holes, that the watier came in very abundantly, 
and they could not by any means stop the leaks, which gave 
the crew fears of her sinking ; they, therefore, did all they 
could to conquer the enemy's ship, but in vain, for she was 
very large, and excellently well defended. During this 
danger of the prince, the Duke of Lancaster came near, and 
as he approached, saw he had the worst of the engagement, 
and that his crew had too much on their hands, for they were 
bailing out water: he, therefore, fell on the other side of the 
Spanish vessel, with which he grappled, shouting, ^ Derby to 
the rescue.* The engagement was now very warm, but did 
not last long, for the ship was taken, and all the crew 
thrown overboard, not one being saved. The prince, with 
his men, instantly embarked on board the Spaniard; and 
scarcely had they done so when his own vessel sunk, which 
convinced them of the imminent danger they had been in. 

^^The engagement was in other parts well contested by the 

11 



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78 MODERN WINCHELSEA- 

English knights^ who exerted themselyes^ and need there 
was of it^ for they found those who feared them not. Late 
in the evening, the Salle du Roi, commanded by Lord fiobert 
de Namur^ was grappled by a large Spaniard^ and the fight 
was very severe. The Spaniards were determined to gain 
this ship ; and the more effectually to succeed in carrying her 
off, they set all their sails, took advantage of the wind, and in 
spite of what Lord Robert and his crew could do, towed her 
out of the battle : for the Spaniard was of a more consider- 
able size than the Lord Robert's ship, and therefore she more 
easily conquered. As they were thus towed, they passed 
near the king's ship, to whom they cried out, * Rescue the 
Salle du Roi,' but were not heard ; for it was dark ; and, if 
they were heard, they were iiot rescued. The Spaniards 
would have carried away with ease the prize, if it had not 
been for al gallant act of one Hanequin, a servant to Lord 
Robert, who, with his drawn sword on his wrist, leaped on 
board the enemy, ran to the mast, and cut the large cable 
which held the main-sail, by which it became unmanageable ; 
and, with great agility, he cut other four principal ropes, so 
that the sails fell on the deck, and the course of the ship was 
stopped. Lord Robert seeing this, advanced with his men, 
and, boarding the Spaniard sword in hand, attacked the crew 
so vigorously, that all were slain or thrown overboard, and 
the vessel won. 

" I cannot speak of every particular circumstance of this 
engagement. It lasted a considerable time ; and the Span- 
iards gave the King of England and his fleet enough to do. 
However, at last, victory declared for the English. The 
Spaniards lost fourteen ships : the others saved themselves by 
flight. When it was completely over, and the king saw he 
had none to fight with, he ordered his trumpets to sound a re- 
treat, and made for England. They anchored at Rye and 
Winchelsea, a little after nightfall, when the King, the Prince 
of Wales, the Duke of Lancaster, the Earl of Richmond, and 



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MODERN WINCHELSEA. 79 

Other barons^ disembarked^ took horses in the town^ and rode 
to the maasion^ where the Queen was, scarcely two English 
leagues distant. The queen was mightily rejoiced on seeing 
her lord and children: she had su£fered that day great afllic- 
tion firom her doubts of success; for h^ attendants had seen 
j&om the hiUs of the coast the whole of the battle, as the 
weather ^as fine and clear, and had told the queen, who was 
very anxious to learn the number of the enemy, that the 
Spaniards had forty large ships : she was, therefore, much 
comforted by their safe return. The king, with those knights,, 
who had attended him, passed the night in revelry with the 
ladies, conversing of arms and amours. On the morrow, the 
greater part of the barons who had been in this engagement, 
came to him: he greatly thanked them all for the services 
they had done him before he dismissed them, when they took 
their leave, and returned every man to his home."* 

^In another translation, it is called a religious house; but the term is, 
"le Manoir :" it was, most probably, William de Echyngham's house. 

^ Barnes' account of this sea fight gives some additional particulars. 
It is quoted at length by Mr. Henry Noel Humphreys, in his Record of the 
Black Prince, (1849 ;) he gives an illuminated picture of this sea fight. 
" The king being soon furnished with a fleet of fifty good ships and pinnaces, 
and taking along with him his eldest son, Edward, Prince of Wales, then 
in the 20th year of his age, together with the Earls of Lancaster, Northamp- 
ton, Warwick, Salisbury, Arundel, Huntingdon, Gloucester, and other 
lords and knights, with their several retinues, and a good nimiber of stout 
archers, went on board at Sandwich, with design to meet the Spanish 
fleet at its return with wares from Flanders, and, at last, on a Monday, 
the iv. of the kalends of Sept, being the 29th of August, and the feast of 
the Decollation of St John the Baptist, he met with them upon the coasts 
of Winchelsea and about Rye, near the hour of matins." He adds, "This 
victory the King of England thought too dearly bought, with the loss of 
many brave knights, especially Sir John Goldsborough, a young knight of 
great valour, of comely shape and noble deportment, who was much la- 
mented by the king and his son the Prince of Wales, to whom he was 
always very dear, upon the account of his extraordinary qualities, and 
almost equal age and conformity of will and inclination. His loss King 
Edward endeavoured to repair by advancing no less than fourscore young 
gentlemen, who performed best in the fight, to the honor of knighthood.'' 



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80 MODERN WIXCHELSEA; 

At this battle Richard Fitz Alan^ Eaxl of Arundel, who 
had led the second battalion of the English army in France, 
greatly distinguished himself.^ 

Some doubts have existed as to the date of the battle ; but, 
by a writ, tested 2nd November, 1350, granting a pardon to 
Thomas de Banastre for the murder of Ealph de Blackburn, 
committed before the 29th August, in consequence of Banas- 
tre's good services in this battle, the king fixes the 29th as 
the day^ of the victory. One of his writs is dated from Win- 
chelsea on the 28th August, and another on the 3rd of 
September. 

Attacks of the French. — ^When war again broke out 
between France and England, the town of Winchelsea was 
seriously injured. In 1359, (on the ides of March, 16th, 
according to Thomas of Walsingham, but on St. Matthew's 
day, 21st Sept., according to Henry of Knighton) whilst 
King Edward was in France, the French, from the coasts of 
Normandy, to the number of 3,000, with a considerable fleet 
of ships, came ashore at "Winchelsea, and entering the town, 
set fire to, and partly burnt it, and killed all that withstood 
them without regard to age, sex, degree, or order. Meeting 
with no opposition to signify, they carried off with them the 
matrons, and all the handsome young women they could lay 
their hands on, and abundance of plunder ; and whilst they 
were there, committed the most abominable acts : for when 
they landed the townspeople were at mass in the church ; 
thither the Frenchmen immediately directed themselves, and 
after butchering many of the congregation and despoiling the 
church, they met with one woman of more beauty than the 
rest of her neighbours, and had come there together with 
them to her devotions : her the brutes seized upon, and, in 
that very place, most grossly assaulted, one after another, till 

^ Dallaway's West. Sussex, vol. 2, p. 126. 
2 Rym. Feed., vol. 3, p. 207. 



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MODERN WINCHELSEA. 81 

tte woman died.^ Henry of Knighton says, that there wer6 
nine illustrious women ravished; that the French killed forty 
townsmen ; and that 400, who came to the succour of the 
town, were drowned in the harbour, out of which the French 
took thirteen ships well freighted with wine and victuals. Ac- 
cording to Leland,^ they stayed in the town a day and a 
night, and then returned to their ships, but were obliged to 
leave two behind, being fast in land.^ The slaughter seems to 
have been heaviest at the west of the town and near the 
Pewes; The slain were buried in St. Giles' church yard, 
which was thereupon enlarged, and the lane near is called to 
this day. Dead Man's Lane. 

The king was very indignant at this attack, and immedi- 
ately turned his army towards Paris. Whilst he was oc- 
cupied under its walls, and a short time before the 16th 
March, 1360, the anniversary of the last attack, the French 
landed at Winchelsea with a large number of armed men and 
horses, beseiged and took the town, inhumanly killed, as the 
king's writs say, all the men found in the town ; and were 
riding all about the country, there killing, biirning, and 
destroying all about them ; when, on the 16th March, the 
king directed an array of the several southern and midland 
counties to repel these invaders.^ Lambard says, that the 
French came under the command of the Admiral of France, 

1 Thomas of Walsingham, p. 174. 

* Notable Things, translated into English by John Leylande. 

'In Devon's Issue Rolls of the Exchequer, p. 173, is the following entry 
connected with these French attacks, Michfiielmas, 34 Edw. HI, (1360.) 
To John de Thorpe, (a clerk of the King's Exchange in the tower) lately 
sent beyond the sea to my lord the king upon secret business, in money 
paid to him in discharge of the ten marks, which the lord the king com- 
manded to be paid to him : for the twenty marks, which the king granted 
to him in recompense of the damage and loss which he sustained at the 
town of Winchelsea during the time the French enemy hostilely entered 
into the said town, and burnt the same. By writ, &c., £6 13s. 4d. 

3Rym. FoDd., vol. 3, p. 477. 



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0% MODERN WINCHELSEA. 

that they landed at nighty took the town^ slew the townsmen^ 
fired their houses^ spoiled their goods^ aad returned laden to 
their navy. They were speedily obliged to retreat from the 
southern coasts^ as an English fleets under Sir John Fayeley^ 
swept the seas between the two countries^ and forced the 
French to keep within the Norman ports. 

The French, in their turn, received full retribution : in 
vengeance of the arrival of the Normans, there assembled in 
1360, under the king's auspices at Winchelsea, the navy of 
the Cinque Ports and the north navy, to the number of 80 
ships. This fleet went with 1,000 armed men, and 1,500 
archers, to the Isle of Sans, within fifteen days after Easter, 
and won the town of Luce, and burnt it. "But this jomey, 
says Leland, was lettid to precede by commandement of Ed- 
ward, that was, by the French counsail meanes, in treatice 
of trewes." 

On 18th March, in this year, 1S60, the king landed at Rye 
in the evening, and immediately started on horseback for 
London, where he arrived at nine o'clock the next morning ; 
and on 24th March his writ was sent (amongst others) to John 
Cronhastyng, master of the ship called La Seinte Marie Cog 
de Winchelsea, requiring him forthwith to unlade the said ship 
in the port of Southampton, notwithstanding the said ship 
was freighted for another place, and to fit her out to go at the 
wages of the king with the other ships of the armed fleet, 
which were getting together with all expedition to withstand 
the French, who had invaded the kingdom.* 

The attack on the Isle of Sans was not the only return 
which the French received from the English for their mis- 
deeds ; for, in the year 1861, the Isle of Caux, in Normandy, 
was taken by the English navy '^in the revengeing of the 
Frenchmen displeasure doone to Winchelsey."^ 

1 Notable Things, by J. Leylande. * Rym. Foed., vol. 3, p. 479. 

3 Leland's Collect, p. 479. 



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MODERN WINCHELSEA. 83 

BoADSTEAD. — The Roadstead oflF this town was, at this time, 
as much a place for dispatching the fleet and embarking troops 
as Portsmouth or Spithead, at the present day. In the summer 
of 1370, a very large force was sent to France, imder Robert 
de Knolles. Winchelsea was the place whence this force 
sailed ; and in Mr. Devon's Issue Boll of Thomas de Brant- 
ingham, the Lord High Treasurer,^ 44 Edw. Ill, we have fiiU 
particulars of what took place. On the 3rd July, William 
Fox, a coiirier, was sent to Winchelsea with letters of Privy 
Seal, directed to the mayor and bailiffs of the same town^ to 
certify to the king, and also by himself to certify concerning 
the ships that were in this port. Letters were also sent by 
messengers and couriers to divers admirals in all parts of the 
country, to detain ships for the expedition, and hasten and 
take them to Winchelsea and Bye, for the passage of Knolles 
and his retinue ; and there are several entries of wages paid 
to the seamen to hasten them. John Lord de Neville, 
admiral of the fleet, and others were required to find as many 
armed men and archers as were necessary to secure the safe 
passage of the ships.* The royal commands were obeyed 
with alacrity. On 18th July, William Lord de Latymer, 
steward of the king's household, was sent to Winchelsea and 
Bye to superintend the passage of Knolles and his retinue, 
and embarking the men at arms and archers, receiving £25 
for his expenses. On the same day, John de Thorp was sent 
with £4,000 to Winchelsea towards payment of the wages of 
the ships, &c. From the 22nd to 26th July, Lord Latymer 
had constant communications sent to him at Bye, where he 
had taken up his abode, and whence he, in company with Lord 
Neville, Henry de Scrope, and others sent to assist him, went 
by barge to the Camber, to inspect the ships : no less than 
8,464 horses, besides foot men and archers, were embarked 

1 See pp. 180-181-205-206-212-213-269. » Rym. Feed., vol. 3, p. 896. 



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84 MODERN WINCHELSBA. 

before the last day of July ; and a sum of 6,000 marks was 
sent from London on four horses to pay the expenses.^ 

Towards the close of his reign, Edward again visited, the 
town; and hence he dated, on 6th Oct., 1372, his writs ad- 
journing the parliament that had been summoned to meet 
fifteen days after Michaelmas, to the 3rd November following.* 

Embanking. — The exertions which had been made during 
the two preceding reigns to protect the town from the ftirther 
encroachments of the sea, to reclaim the land. 

And, sedulous to stop the coming tide, 
Lift the tall rampire's artificial pride, 

Were continued under Edward III. In the 5th year of his 
reign, (1331) he granted' to Stephen Fadiham, of Winchelsea, 
28a. of land, in Laddemarsh, part of Higham, which had been 
submerged by the sea, yet still existed, rendering a yearly 
rent of 28s. if he should be able, by ditches and banks, to 
defend these acres from the sea. 

In 6 Edw. Ill, (1332) Thomas de Faversham, Richard de 
Grofherst, and Eobert de Bataille were appointed commis- 
sioners for Northmarsh, near Rye, and Spadeland Marsh, be- 
tween Winchelsea and Daiiise Wall.* In 10 Edw. Ill, (1336) 
it having been found by inquisition that the king held 128a. in 
Roothmershe, near Rye, which belonged to his manor of 
Ihamme, and that the king's bondmen there held 30a. of land 
called Spadeland; and that the king's lands there could not be 
preserved, except contribution were made towards the ex- 
penses of their safeguard ; the king commanded the com- 
missioners to assess his lands according to their quantity, as 
they did others, and he commanded Stephen Fadiham, his 
bailiff of Ihamme, to contribute his proportion out of the 
profits of that manor ; and in 16 Edward III, (1342) he 

* There are particular entries of the cost of the planks, &c. 

2 Pari. Hist. Eng., vol. 1, p. 113. 

3 Cal. Rot., orig., p. 50. * Dugd. Embank., c. 19. 



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MODERN WINCHELSEA 85- 

directed his precept to John Glynde, then bailiff of the manor, 
reciting his commands to Padiham, and giving him strict 
charge not to omit the contribution. 

But (says Dugdale) notwithstanding this great care, which ft appears the 
king had, the work was not perfected of three years after : for, in 19 £dw. 
Ill, (1345) I find the like precept directed to the same Stephan, who was 
again his bayliff of the said mannour in that year. What was done in the 
marsh of Spadelonde before mentioned, in pursuance of the said king's 
precept, I cannot say: but this is certain, that within few years after through 
the force of great tempests, the sea banks between Winchelse and 
Dauneswalle, and betwixt Pykammyll and Trecherie, were so broken and 
decayed, that, as well the king's lands as the lands of divers other persons 
in that marsh, were overflowed at every tide, to the danger of their utter 
ruine, and the apparent depauperation of the town of Winchelse and the 
parts adjoyning.^ " The king, therfore, for the speedy repair thereof, did, 
in the 25th of his reign, (1351,) assign John de Ore, Stephan de Horsham, 
Robert Amald, and Stephan de Fageham, his commissioners, to view them 
and to take order therein," and they were to repair all the walls and 
ditches.* 

In 1370 we find that the first bridge to supersede the ferry 
had been built. In this year 

The king being informed that the burghers of Wynchelse had, for 
the advantage of the town and benefit for the whole countrey, built a cer- 
tain bridge at Pypewel, over a water, called the Chanel of Wynchelse> 
upon the said king's soyl, on both sides of the water, for the passage of 
people and all carriages; which was not done with little chardge: and, that 
by the violence of the tides and flouds of fresh water passing to the sea, 

1 By two inquisitions, taken 21st Edw. Ill, and 30th Edw. HI, for the 
purpose of the bailiff's discharges, and to be found among the MSS. at 
the Carlton House Eide, it appears that the sea had recently submerged 
eighteen tenements at Rye, which had formerly paid 4s. rents j two acres 
of land near Rye ; and two tenements in Higham, belonging to the heirs 
of Pette : that Adam atte Clive had land uncultivated that used to pay a 
rent of 2s. 10|d. ; that Stephen Padiham had expended £1 1 16s. 8d. in 
repairing the walls, &c., between Winchelsea and Daneswall : and, that 
in 1356, in spite of all exertions, 128 acres of land in ^padeland, which, 
had formerly paid a rent of £42 16s. 2d., had been submerged. 

2 Rot. Pat, 25 Edw. m, part 1, m. 23. 

12 



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86 MODERN, WINCHELSEA. 

the said bridge and banks, on each side of the said water, betwixt the 
said town of Wynchelse and the towns of Odymere and Rye, were so 
broken down and ruined, and all the highwayes about the said town of 
Wynchelse so overflowed, that scarce any one could come in or out 
thereof; he granted commission to the Abbot of Bataille, Thomas de 
Reyns, (Lieut, to the Constable of Dovor Castle) William Batesford, 
Roger de Ashbomeham, and others, to view the said bridge and banks, 
and to take order for the repairing of thenu* 

Among the seals found at Winchelsea, is one of the family 
of Glinde. It is the seal of John, son of 
Robert Glinde, and was discovered some years 
since in a garden, then the property of Mr. 
Thomas Lamb, mayor of Rye, and bears the 
inscription, x s : lOH : is : filii : rob'ti : 
GLINDE : Sigillum Johannis filii Roberti Glinde. The scroll 
seems to be a merchant's mark, from which it is premised that 
he had no arms.^ 

Property, Names, &c. — In consideration of their peculiar 
burdens, the Freemen of the Cinque Ports claimed, and were 
allowed exemption from the subsidies imposed upon other 
subjects of the king. Among the MSS. in the Carlton House 
Ride, are several roUs to the time of Henry VI, of freemen 
non-resident in their respective ports, but resident in several 
parishes in Kent and Sussex, who were exempted from 
contribution : and there is one roll, Non. Inq. of 15th 
Edw. Ill, (1341) which contains the names of the resident 
freemen who were thus exempted; and we axe enabled to 
mark the changes, which half a century had produced in the 
new town . The Roll of Winchelsea is very incorrectly printed 
in the Nonse Inquis., p. 403, and the names of several 
freemen who afterwards claimed exemption are omitted.^ We, 

1 Dugd. Imb., p. 91. In 8th Henry VUI, the Burgesses paid 20s. for a 
confirmation of the charter of Edw. Ill, for building the bridge at Pipe- 
well. Rot. orig. Carl. Ride MSS., m. 54. 

2 The seal is engraved in the Arch., for 1794, vol. 7, p. 430, pi. 19. 

^ In the same roll the names of 49 freemen in Hastings, 30 in Rye, and 
28 in Pevensey, are given. 



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MODERN WINCHELSEA. 



87 



therefore, print from the original roll, with the additions 
among the Subsidy Rolls in the MSS. at Carlton House Ride; 



Stephen de Padyham 
John Wallere 
Joab de Bidendenn 
Robert Bataille 
William Brokex 
John Brokex 
John Cole 
Matilda Arnold 
WiUiam Manell 
William Coupre 
John Longe 
WiUiam Longe 
Bartholomew Longe 
Robt and Stephen, sons 

of Stephen Alard 
Thomas Geffi*ai 
WiUiam WeUard 
John de Brede 
John de Folke 
WiUiam Yonge 
Robert Lende 
Thomas Lende 
John de Pette 
Mchard Coupre 
Roger Coupre 
Stephen Tregen 
WiUiam Tribuler 



Johanna de Pette 
Margaret Palmer 
WiUiam de Brede 
Richard Frere 
Robt Malerbe 
Robt Alard de Ihamme 
Margaret Germayn 
John Glynde 
Beatrice atte Gate 
John Jacob 
John atte Carte 
John Yonge 
Alan Alard 
John Paulyn de Stich- 

erton 
Roger Saleme 
Dionisia Tannere 
Thomas Lynter 
Richard Swayn 
Johanna Hywe 
John Patrik 
Stephen Lambyn 
Richard Large 
PhiUp de Oxnee 
John Curteys 
John Wynaere 
Richard Kenne 



Ralph Enogle 
Roger Flechre 
Roger Waterman 
Ricnard Webbe 
Willm. Godynton 
Paul Hore 
Geoffiy Hereward 
Nicholas Ofemute 
Richard Suerpe 
John Suerpe 
John I^gemere 
Roger Spycer 
Wfidter Blandy 
John Heyed 
Richard Moys 
John Rypecheri 
John and Thomas de 

Clavering 
John Cely 
Reginald Alard 
Henry Vynht 
John Seman 
John Vynht 
Thomas de Maydestan 
Charles Colyn 
Simon Ambreis 
Peter Fihs 



The additional roll, certified by the mayor and bailiff on 
4th April, is very much defaced, but it contains the following 
nineteen names : — 



Reginald Alard 

Henry — 

The Heirs of Robert 

BataUle 
James Paulyn 
Walter Paulyn 
Margaret — 
GUbert Kaxeman 



John Paulyn 
John — 
Matilda Arnold 
IsabeUa de Bidendene 
The Heirs of John de 

,Bidendene 
The Heirs of John 

Yonge 



Charles Co (upre) 
WiUiam Manew 
John F5nih 
Thomas G (odfirey) 
Robert Alardof Ihamme 
PhUip de Ox (ene) 



Among the Battle Abbey Records and the Dering MSS., 
we have some additional names. In January, 1341, we find 
a feoflBnent from James, son and heir of Gervase Alard, to 
Richard Mory and Joan his wife, of seventeen virgates of 
land, in St Thomas, abutting on the north to the messua-ge of 



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88 MODERN WINCHELSEA. 

Henry, son of Richard Alard. And we find Henry Alard, Wal- 
ter Clerk, John Andrew, and others, witnesses to the feoflBnent 
from Stephen and Roger, sons of Agnes Grig, of Winchelsea, 
for the health of their own souls and of their mother, of two 
messuages near Comhethe.* In 1345 we have a release from 
Peter Fich, of Winchelsea, to the Abbot and Convent of Battle, 
of two wax tapers, wont to be rendered by the sacrist of the 
monastery on the day of the Purification of our Lady.^ In 
the same year, we find John de Brede, of Winchelsea,^ in an 
inquisition taken at Winchelsea in 1349 before John Longe, 
bailiff,* the jurors were Robert Portesmouth, Geoffry Gate- 
ward, Philip Barbour, John Hodere, John Bronketre, John 
Dranke, Samson Sneppe, John Hardyng, Thomas Nede, 
Henry Folde, WiUiam Colhepe, and John Edouse ; and in 
1355, the name of Pinch instead of Herbert first appears as 
immediately connected with this town, in a bond in the pe- 
nalty of £40 given by Vincent Pinch, who was bailiff in the 
following year, to Robert Arnold, Robert Londencys, Robert 
Badding, and William de Batesford, of Winchelsea.^ 

Richard II. Attacks of the French. — During the 
last year of the last reign, great fear's were entertained of some 
renewed attacks by the French. On the 8th May, 1376, the 
mayor and burgesses of Rye were directed to array and put 
all the able-bodied men in arms, and to fortify their town, that 
they might be able to resist their enemies, shoidd any presume 
to attack them by sea or by land : and they were required to 
make proclamation that no one, of whatsoever state or con- 
dition, should withdraw himself from the town, or remove his 
property, under a penalty of the loss of all his possessions. 
These directions to the faint-hearted men of Rye, and these 
preparations, were not made without a necessity ; for in the 



1 See ante, p. 16. « Thorpe's Battle Abbey Records. 3 Bering MSS. 
* Tower Records, Inq., 23 Edw. Ill, p. 2, (1 nrs.) No. 173. 
6 Bering MSS. 



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MODERN WINCHELSEA. 89 

following year, (1377) a few days only after the new king had 
ascended the throne, the French invaded Eye, and the 
inhabitants of that town ".turned their backes." Let us see 
how bravely the men of Winchelsea behaved. 

Stow thus describes the attack.^ "Upon the feast day of 
St. Peter and Paul the Apostles, (29th June) in the morning, 
the Frenchmen, with five vessells great and spaall, invaded the 
towne of Eye, and with small labour tooke the towne : albeit 
the towne dwellers, upon confidence of strength, had taken 
order that none should remove their goods from the towne, 
that at the least wise, for love of their goods, they might 
with more courage abide the conflicts ; yet, notwithstanding, 
they tume their backs in the time of battell, whereupon it 
came to passe, that by their want of heart and courage, the 
towne was taken with all their goods. The Abbot of Battayle, 
(Hamo of Offington) hearing of so lamentable a report, put 
all his men in armour to defend the villages nigh adjoyning, 
and one of the enemies going forth for forage, being taken by 
one of the Abbot's men, declared that the Frenchinen purposed 
to keepe the said towne for ten dayes, whereupon the Abbot 
removed with his power to the towne of Winchelsey, which 
towne (as the prisoner reported) the French purposed to 
assault ; but when they saw the Abbot and his men armed in 
that towne, dispayring of further entrance into that countrie, 
they beginne to set fire on the towne of Rye, and within 
five houres brought it wholly unto ashes, with the church 
that then was there of a wonderfuU beauty, conveyiQg away 
foure of the richest of that towne, prisoners, and slaying sixty- 
six, left not above eyght in the towne. Forty-two hogsheads 
of wine they carried from thence to their ships, with the rest 
of their booty, and left the towne desolate." 

After the French had burnt Rye they set sail for the Isle 
of Wight, and according to Stow, they devastated its towns, 

1 Chron., pp. 278-9. 



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90 MODERN WINCHELSEA. 

slaughtered the inhabitants, and bound them by an oath not 
to resist them for the space of a year, whensoever they should 
please to land there.^ This done, they again, in the same 
year, visited the Sussex coast, and "came to the town of Win- 
chelsey, where, understanding the Abbot of BatteU was come 
to defend it, they sent him word to redeeme the towne : unto 
whom the Abbot answered, he needed not to redeeme the 
thing that was not lost, but willed them to desist from molest- 
ing the towne upon paine of that which might follow. The 
French, exasperated with this answeer, requested him that if hee 
would not have peace, hee would send forth to fight man to man, 
or more in nimiber if hee would, to trye the matter in view of 
armes; but neyther would the Abbot admitte the one request 
or the other, saying hee was a religious man, and therefore not 
to admitte such petitions, and that hee came not hither to fight, 
but to defend and preserve the peace of the country. These 
things being heard, the Frenchmen supposing the Abbot and 
his people wanted courage, they assaulted the towne with such 
instruments of warre, as cast forth stones far off, not ceasing 
from noone till evening ; but by the laudable prowes of the 
Abbot and such as were with him, the French prevailed 
nothing, but left it as they found it. In the meane time, whilst 
they were busie thus at Winchelsey, they sent part of their 
company unto Hastings, where, finding the towne almost 
empty, they burnt it." 

Speaking of this attack and defence of Winchelsea by the 
Abbot, old Fuller says, in his quaint language:^ "I behold 
this Abbot the saver, not onely of Sussex, but England. For 
as dogs, who have once gotten an haunt to worry sheep, do 
not leave it off till they meet with their reward : so, had 
not these French felt the smart as well as the sweet of the 
English pltmder, our land (and this cotmty especially) had 
never been free from their incursions." 

* Chron., p. 279. » Fuller's Worthies, ed. 1662, p. 106. See also T. Wals. 



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Modern winchelsea. 91 

In tlus year, 1378, Stow tells us/ that the men of Winchel- 
sea and Eye, in retaliation, gathered a great number of people 
together, and sailed for the coast of Normandy, " desirous 
to requite the losses which before they had received; 
and so, in the night, arriving in a town called Peter's-Haven, 
entred the same, slaying so many as they met, and those 
whom they thinke able to pay ransome, they carry to their 
ships ; they spoyled the houses, with the churches, where 
they found many rich spoyles, which sometime had been by 
the Frenchmen fet (fetched) from Rye, and especially the 
bells, and such like, which they shipped, set the rest on fire, 
and then they land at Wilet, not farre from thence, where 
they practised the like cheuance, and so, with their rich spoile, 
turned home/' 

Two years afterwards, on 16th March, 1380, the unfortunate 
town was again attacked by the French and bmut, and the val- 
iant Abbot put to flight. Holinshed^ states, that among other 
incursions which the French made this siunmer on thd coasts, 
we find that they burnt the town of Winchelsea, and put the 
Abbot of Battle to flight with his people, coming to succour 
the town, and took one of his monks that there was in armour 
with the Abbot. ^^Some write, also, that they burnt Rie, Hast- 
ings, and Portsmouth." Stow^ gives the account that *' John 
Vian, knight, with the French King's gallies, tooke the towne 
of Winchelsea, put the Abbot of BatteU to flight, and tooke one 
of the monkes that came thither armed. Hee also burnt the 
townes of Appledor and Rye, Hastings and Portesmouth, about 
the feast of St. Laurence-" Leland also says that they burnt 
Appledore and Rye. And Thomas of Walsingham* adds, 
that the capture of Winchelsea was among the most disastrous 
injuries which the French inflicted during the summer of that 
year upon this country. 

The damage done to the town was very severe. It is cer- 

^ Chronicle, p. 281, following Thomas of Walsingham, p; 210. 

» Holinshed, p. 427. ^ stow, p. 282. * T. Wals., p. 24L 



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92 MODERN WINCHELSEA. 

tain that the walls were seriously injured, and that the Land 
or Pipewell Gate was destroyed : and there is good reason to 
suppose that the nave of the church of St. Thomas was burnt 
to the ground. 

The king lost no time in endeavouring to ascertain and 
repair the loss ; he immediately issued his writ^ to the 
Abbot of Battle, Edward Dallyngrugge, and William Bates- 
ford, reciting that the town was not sufficiently secured, and 
was liable to the hostile attacks of the enemy, and directing 
them to survey the town, and enquire how it could best be 
secured, and at whose expense it ought to be done. The 
parliament took up the cause as a national question ; and the 
Conmions (1384,) petitioned the king that some remedy might 
be applied for the defence of the fortresses of Rye and Win- 
chelsea, which had been so often injured and almost destroyed 
by the burnings and invasions of the enemy; "because if 
those towns were taken, which God forbid, the whole country 
T^ould be destroyed."^ This petition was referred to the Coun- 
cil; and the king, carrying out the wishes of the Commons, not 
only applied himself to a reparation of the walls, but directed 
that certain persons, who had tenements there, which were 
injured, should forthwith re-build and inhabit them, or give 
them up to others, who should be willing to inhabit them. The 
energy and vigour of the inhabitants did much to restore the 
devoted town : they so far succeeded as to stop for a time these 
attacks. But the town, although it was well resorted to by 
traders, never afterwards recovered its original importance.^ 



* Rot. Pat, 4 Richard II, pt 1, a tergo, m. 40. 

2 Rot. Pari. vol. 3, p. 201, a. 

^ Holinshed (p. 440) gives an account of another sea exploit. " About 
the same time, (1382,) certeine English ships of Rie and other places, went 
to sea, and meeting pirats, fought with them and overcame them, taking 
seven ships, with three hundred men in them. One of those ships had 
beene taken from the Englishmen afore time, and was called the * Falcon,' 
belonging to the Lord Will. Latimer; they were all richelie laden with 
wine, wax, and other good merchandize." 



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MODERN WINCHELSEA. 9^ 

Rye gradually rose in wealth and commerce, and we find that 
Winchelsea as gradually became of less national interest. 

Grose, quoting Leland, ascribes the attack of 1380 to the 
Spaniards, and not to the French ; and says that they (the 
Spaniards) entered by night at Fairlight, about midway be- 
tween Winchelsea and Hastings. All other authorities, 
however, agree in stating the French to hare been the 
aggressors. They are recorded to have entered the town 
before sun-rise ; and tradition has it that the New Gate was,, 
by treachery, thrown open to them. 

The orders sent to the town in this reign, included one in 
1382, in which the hosts of this town, and of Eye, London,. 
Yarmouth, and Scarborough were forbidden to forestal fish 
or other victuals;^ and another in which the mayor and 
bailiffs were required to proclaim and enforce an order against 
the exportation of provisions.^ 

Embanking. — In 3rd Eichard II, (1379 or 1380,) "upon 
complaint being made to the king by the commonalty of 
Wynchelse, shewiag that there was a common way called 
Cop-greys, then lately leading from the said town xmto Bat- 
taile ; as also a certain marsh called Dynsdale, lying betwixt 
the towns of Wynchelse and Hastings, which way and marsh, 
through the neglect of some persons who of right ought to 
repair and maintain them, were destroyed and overflx)wed by 
the sea," the said King, by the assent of parliament, "assigned 
the Abbot of Battaile, Eobert de Bealknappe, and Williaill de 
Battesford to enquire through whose default these damages had 
happened, and who had used and ought to repair them, and 
to compel them thereto," according to the laws and customs 
of Eomney marsh.^ 

Where this town or common way, called Cop-greys, was, 
we are unable to determine ; but it must have been in the 
direction from the Newgate towards Icklesham or Pett. 

1 Rot. Pari., vol. 3, p. 142 b. « lb. p. 396 b. 

^Dugd. Imbank., p. 91 ; Holloway's Romney Marsh, p. 121 ; and Rot. 
Pat., 3 Rich. U, pt. 1, a tergo, m. 40. 13 



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94 



MODERN WlJrCHELSEA. 



Pkopeety, Names, &€. — ^Very few traces of the change of 

property, or of new names, 
in this reign,have come down 
to us. We leam only from 
the Battle Abbey Records, 
that, in 1379, Robert Por- 
ter of Winchelsea, enfeoffed 
certain lands at Westham; 
and, that in 1389, Robert 
Scot and Fetronilla his wife, 
enfeoffed to John Bengles- 
thorpe and Godiva his wife, 
a messuage in Winchelsea, 
to which feoflhient William 
Skele then mayor, the then 
bailiff, John Geffirey, and 
others were witnesses. 
Henry IV.— On 9th June, 1400, (1 Hen. IV,) the king'^ 
Writs requiring proclamation to be made, that no one should 
carry out of the port any ship or armed vessel of war to go 
against or hurt the French, or any of their allies, except the 
Scots, contrary to the then present truce, were directed amongst 
others, to the mayor and bailiffs of Winchelsey.^ In the 
early part of the following year, many arrests of vessels were 
made in the Camber ; and proclamation was made that no 
strangers should be abroad in the town after a certain hour of 
the evening.* About 1404, says Holinshed,^ great loss hap- 
pened in Kent, by breaking in of the waters that overflowed 
the sea banks, as well in the Archbishop of Canterbury's 
grounds as other men's, whereby much cattle was drowned. 
The townsmen, as we have seen, on 10th June, 1404, obtained 




» Rym. FoBd., vol. 3, pt. 3, p. 185. 
* Corporation Accounts of the Town. 
3Holinshed, p. 526. 



See post, from Bering MSSv 



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PLATE 111. 





STRAKB GATE. 




MJ.D»eru.deL. 






MODERN WINCHELSEA. 



95 



a confirmation of their charters, and set themselves to work in 
good earnest to repair the injuries their town had received. 

PiPEWELL Gate, &c. — The repairs of the town walls, which 
had been commenced during the last reign, were carried on 
and completed in 1404. Tradition says that the windows in 
the north aisle of the church were repaired; and it is beyond 
doubt that the Pipewell Gate was now rebidlt. The gateway 
has, on the side without the town, next Udimore, a shield 
having the arms, — a squirrel sefeant — ^and above, in old 
English letters. 




John Helde was mayor in 1404-6, and this sufficiently fixes 
the date of the gate. It was originally of more elaborate 
workmanship than the others ; and there are now to be traced 
on the western side, the remains of shafts, firom which clustered 
columns rose. 

Property and Names. — The additional names to be met 
with during this reign are not many. Among the Battle Abbey 
Records we have a feofl&nent on 26th Jan., 1405, from Bar- 
tholomew Marie and Alicia his wife, to Walter Seman, of the 
same place, and Juliana his wife, of land in the parish of St. 
Thomas, which was the gift and feofl&nent of Robert Scharp 
of Hastings, witnessed by John Gascone, Thomas Thondyrr, 
and others. And on 25th April, 1410, we have a feofl&nent 
from John Tamworth of Winchelsea, of land in the borough 
of Monjoye. Among the Inquisitiones post mortem,^ is one, 

' CaL Inq., p. m., voL 3, p. 328. 



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96 MODEBN WINCHELSEA* 

11th Henry IV, in which it appears that Agnes, widow of 
John Orlaston, died seized of a messuage and divers lands 
and rents in Winchelsea. And, on 20th Sept., 1412, Alan 
Kynton of Winchelsea, had a demise of the land here, which 
belonged to the Abbot and Convent of St. Martin, at Battle. 

Henry V. — The tenements which had not been rebuilt 
since the French attacks, and the changes which the land 
around was undergoing from the gradual retirement of the 
sea, rendered it desirable to contract the space induded 
within the walls. Accordingly, we find in 3 Hen. V, (1416) 
sji inquisition ad quod dampnimi^ on the proposal of the mayor 
and commonalty, to have a murage grant, because the site 
of the town, as it had theretofore existed, was too large for the 
then necessary habitation of the town; and this was followed 
by a patent for fortifying the town on the proposed plan.^ 

Several notices of the shipping of the town and of the use 
of the port occur in this reign. 

In 8rd Henry V, (1415) the sum of £12 Is. 6d. was due 
from the King to Thomas Walsh, master of the ship called 
Gabriell de Wynchelse, for the wages- of himself and his 
mariners, sailing with the said ship with the King, in his 
voyage beyond the sea, viz., for six weeks, after August 1st 
then last past ; and he had a grant, Oct. 12th, for the payment 
of that sum out of the King's Customs in the port of London.^ 
In 1415, the kiag preparing for the invasion of France, di- 
rected his ships to rendezvous at London, Sandwich, 
Winchelsea, and Southampton.* On 13th Oct., 1417, safe 
conduct was granted to John Bernard and three of his servants, 
in a ship or balinger, with twenty-five or thirty armed mari- 

* Inq., ad quod dampnum, 3 Hen. V, No. 16. 
» Rot Pat. 3 Hen. V, pt 2, No. 28. 

8 Rym. Foed., ed. 1740, vol. 4, pt. 2, p. 148. 

* Burr. MSS. AddL Humphrey, uncle of Henry V, Lord Warden of 
the Cinque Ports, issued the summons from the king to the ports, to fur- 
nish ships to rendezvous at Winchelsea at the feast of St. George, to go 
to France with an army. 



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MODERN WINCHELSEA. 97 

ners from Southampton, Winchelsea, Sandwich, or Dover.^ 
From Winchelsea, 6th Id. i.e. 8th June, 1420, Henry Chichele, 
Archbishop of Canterbury, set sail on his passage to the king 
in France.^ 

In 7th Henry V, (1420) at a meeting of the Commissioners 
of the King of England and PhiKp, Duke of Burgimdy and 
Earl of Flanders, at Calais, to treat concerning the proroga- 
tion or renovation of the truces between the kingdom of 
England and Flanders, and concerning the reformation and 
reparation of what had been done contrary thereto by either 
party, among some things of tliat sort partictdarly specified, 
is a complaint of the arrest and detention of a ship laden with 
wood, belonging to Winchelsea.' 

Property, Names, &c. — The Battle Abbey Records have 
two additional feoffinents during this reign : one from Thomas 
Reynolds of Winchelsea and Joan his wife, to John Coket, 
of the same place, and Alicia his wife, of a messuage in the 
parish of St. Thomas, situate towards the lands of the heirs 
of John Burghalsherte ; and, in the other, John French of 
Winchelsea is mentioned as conveying lands in Willingdon. 

Henry VI. — The town still continued to be a convenient 
place for embarkation to the Continent. Its merchants were 
yet of importance; but with this reign, the prosperity departed. 
In the 3rd Henry VI, (1426) four ships of Brittany, laden 
with wine, salt, &c., were taken by Lord Talbot and carried 
into Winchelsea, where an inquisition was held upon them.* 
In the Issue RoU of the Exchequer,^ in Easter term, 6th 
Henry VI, we find a sum of £6 paid to John Talbot, the 
King's Serjeant at arms, appointed in the first year of his 
reign, to detain and seize divers ships in the ports of London, 
Sandwich, Deal, and Winchelsea, to embark Thomas Duke of 
Exeter, John the Earl Marshal, Robert Lord Willoughby, 

1 Rotuli NonnannicB, vol. 1, p. 179. * Addl. MSS., 6344, p. 801. 

3 Rym. Feed., vol. 4, pt 3, p. 152. . * MSS. Carlt. Ride. 
« Devon's Issue Roll Exch., p. 400. 



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98 MODERN WINCHELSEA. 

and other knights, esquires, and archers of the King's retinue 
in the aforesaid ports, proceeding to Calais, and for other 
services. In 9th Henry VI, (1430) Kichard Sueleham ^ of 
Winchelsea, and others, merchants of England, complained to 
James King of Scots, that, about the feast of St. Andrew, 1428, 
one Simon Logane, and three other Scots, plundered them 
of two ships, commonly called the Gabriel of Hundeflete, and 
George of Wynchelsea, together with other goods, things, 
and merchandizes, to the value of £1,600 : whereupon the 
king, on 6th January, granted his letters patent, giving liberty 
to all persons in authority in any of the ports of England and 
Flanders to arrest and detain those oflFenders, and any other 
merchants and mariners of his kingdom and their ships and 
goods, at the request of ajiy of the said complainants, till such 
time as they should be fully satisfied of the said £1,600 ; 
which letters were confirmed by those of the King of England, 
on 26th January. On 2nd December, 1430, there is a writ 
of Privy Seal, for carrying from the town of Winchelsea to 
Dieppe, a sum to pay the ships, archers, and mariners;^ and in 
Easter term, 11 Henry VI., Roger Minster, teller of the 
Exchequer, was paid for being sent to Winchelsea, and thence 
to Dieppe and Rouen, with £2,600 for John Duke of Bedford, 
to pay the wages of the men at arms.^ On 28th Nov., 1431, 
an order was made for stopping the ships at Winchelsea.* 
PiLGEiMAGES. — ^Durfug this reign the pilgrimages to the 
shrine of St. James of Compostella, became frequent, and 
the merchants of Winchelsea largely availed themselves of this 
source of profit. On 26th Feb., 1434, Robert Porter, master 
of a barge,^ called Le Trinite de Wynchelse, had the king's 
license to carry therein sixty of the king's subjects, who were 

1 Rym. Feed., vol. 4, pt. 4, p. 171. 

'Proceedings and Ordinances of the Privy Council, vol. 4, p. 73. 

3 Devon's Issue Roll of Exch., p. 422. 

* Proceedings of Privy Council, vol. 4, p. 103. 

« Rym. Feed., vol. 5, pt. 1, p. 4. 



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Modern winch£lsba. 99 

going on a pilgrimage to St. James', provided that they made 
oath to the keepers of the passage, when they were taken on 
board, that they would carry no gold or silver above their 
reasonable expenses with them; and that they would not 
reveal the secrets of the kingdom to any one abroad. And, 
on 8th May, in the same year, the same Robert Porter, master 
of a barge, called Le Kateryn of Wincheke, had the king's 
license^ to carry therein forty of the king's subjects, &c., as 
before. Licenses were granted in this year for no less than 
2433 pilgrims. 

In Sir Henry Ellis' Original Letters, second series,^ there 
is a singular letter, showing that ships were every year fitted 
out from different ports in England with cargoes of pilgrims. 
From other countries these pilgrimages were continued even 
in the last century. 

In the earliest English sea song, preserved in a MS. of the 
time of Hen. VI, in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge, 
and printed by the Percy Society in Mr, Halliwell's Early 
Naval Ballads, p. 1, the discomforts of these pilgrims to the 
shrine of St. James are pointed out: and from the opening 
verses it is clear that Winchelsea held a prominent place among 
the ports for these articles of exportation. 

Men may leve all gamys, 
That saylen to Seynt Jamys: 
For many a man hit gramys) 

When they begyn to sayle. 
For when they take the see, 
At Sandwyche, or at Wynchelsee, 
At Brystow, or where that it bee, 

Theyr herts begyn to fayle. 

These pilgrimages from Winchelsea occupied the attention of 
the principal merchants for several years. The last entry of 
a license which we have found, is 22nd Feb., 1466, (34 Hen. 
VI ;) it was granted to Simon Famecombe, owner of the ship 

^ Rym. Foed., vol. 5, pt. 1, p. 6. ^ Vol. 1, p. 110. 



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100 MODEJlN WlNCHIlLSEA. 

called Le Helene of Wynchelse, to carry therein fourscore 
pilgrims to St. James'.^ In this same year, ships for the same 
destination went from Portsmouth, Weymouth, Plymouth, 
and other places, and there is extant a MS. Itinerary* of 
William Wey, Canon of Eton, who was one of the pilgrims 
in this year. 

Port. — ^Up to this time the Port was large enough to have 
constantly a Custumer and Deputy Custumer.^ 

In 14 Hen. VI, (1436) William Morfote, a mariner of 
Winchelsea, who was at sea at his own expense with an aJiray 
of one hundred persons ^^for to withstand," as he called 
privateering, "and depresse the kyng's enmys, and his rebeUs, 
and of this worthy realme," complained that he was prevented 
from victualling at many places, and dare not come to land, 
in consequence of his having broken prison at Dover Castle, 
and he prayed for letters patent granting him a pardon : upon 
which parliament recommended the king to inflict an easy fine 
upon him for his prison breaking, and after payment thereof 
to grant him the desired pardon.* This Morfote married Alice, 
the widow of John French of Winchelsea, who died possessed 
of lands in Pevensey, which afterwards became the property 
of Batde Abbey .5 On 29th May, 1421, there was a letter of 
attorney from Morfote and his wife to deliver seizin of the 
lands in Pevensey; one of the witnesses to which letter is Alex. 
Beuelay of Winchelsea. Wm. Morfote was member for 
the town in 1428 and 1429. And, on 21st May, 1433, 
William Skele of Winchelsea, was party to a release and con- 
cession in respect of the Pevensey land to this William Mor- 
fote, who, on 2nd July, 1446, enfeoffed to John Godfrey of 
Winchelsea, John Tamworth of Hastings, and Thomas Grevt 
of Winchelsea, all his lands and tenements within the liberties 
of Winchelsea and Pevensey. 

^ Rym. Feed., vol. 5, pt. 2, p. 65. ^pgn^g the Camden Society. 

3 Rot. Pari., 10 Henry VI, (1432) vol. 4, p. 417 b. 

* Rot. Pari., vol. 4, p. 488 a. * Batt. Abb. Rec. 



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MODERN WINCHELSEA. 101 

In 17tli Hen. VI, (1439) we find a payment of £61 10s. 2d. 
for the conveyance of lead, tin, saltpetre, quarell-heads, 
lances, bowstrings, sheaves of arrows, &c., from London to this 
town,^ to be shipped for the service of our army.in France. 
On 8th July, 21 Hen, VI, (1442) an ordinance^ was made for 
the better defence of the realm, by which it was directed that 
eight ships with forecastles, armed with 150 men each, were 
to be at sea from February to November, and every large ship 
was to be attended by a barge with eighty men, and a balinger 
with forty men. Each man to receive 2s. a month wages ; 
and the masters and quarter-masters 8s. 4d. each more than 
the men. They were first ordered to assemble at Camber, 
but afterwards were directed to meet off the Isle of Wight. 
Winchelsea famished a barge. In addition to this, two barges 
were directed to be stationed at Winchelsea, one of Morefore's 
called the Marie, and "that other Pratte barge" called Trinity.^ 
In 1443, a letter was sent to Winchelsea to enquire who were 
takers of the Hollander's or Zealander's goods.* And on 8th 
July, in the same year, Godard Pulham, the bailiff of the 
town, was directed to be spoken with for a balinger to victual 
the bastile at Dieppe. 

In the next year, five ships of the ports were required to 
attend the queen from France.* 

Last Attack of the Feench. — It was during the severe 
struggle of England to keep possession of the places she held 
in France, and a few years before the conquest of Bayonne, 
which completed our expulsion, that the French made their 
last attack upon the two ancient towns. Jeake tells us, that 
" Both Winchelsea and Rye were burnt in the time of Henry 
VI, about the 26th or 27th year of his reign, (1448 or 1449,) 



1 Devon's Issue Rolls of the Exch., p. 437. 

* Proceedings and Ordinances of Privy Council, vol. 5. 
3 Rot. Pari., vol. 5, p. 59 b. 

* Proceedings and Ordinances of Privj' Council, vol. 5, p. 308. 
« Boys* Sandwich, p. 673. 

14 



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102 MODERN WINCHELSEA. 

in which I suppose the old charters and records of the town 
of Rye perished ; because none older than his 27th year, save 
only some fragments, are to be seen.** The attack, probably, 
took placein the summer of 1449, when the array of the county 
was called to the aid of the inhabitants ; for, on the SOth July, 
1449, (27th Hen. VI) there is a muster roU,^ taken before 
Thomas Yerde, Richard Dalyngrygge, John Devenish, 
Thomas Thondre, and Robert Thorpe, commissioners, of 66 
men at arms, and 608 archers, in the retinue of the Duke of 
Somerset, who were then at Winchelsea, well armed and 
arrayed, under the command of William Ipetot. 

On 17th Feb., 1450, the king's letter was sent, amongst 
seven places, to the bailiffs, burgesses, and commonalty of 
Winchelsea, not to permit any gatherings or assemblages, 
except such as were by the king's proclamations justified.* 
In March, 1452, Calais being in much danger, a large fleet 
was placed under Lord Clifford, who was directed to bring 
them to the Downs or the Camber, without delay.' 

In 33 Hen. VI, (1466) great apprehension was felt for the 
safety of the kingdom from the designs of foreigners, and the 
Conmions* petitioned the king, praying that the Italian mer- 
chants, strangers who used to ride about buying woollen 
cloths, wool, wolfelles, and tyne, in several parts of the realm, 
whereby they learned the secrets of the kingdom, might be 
restrained from so buying ; and that they should not be per- 
mitted to buy at the ports, imless driven by stress of weather 
into the ports of Fowey, Falmouth, Plymouth, Dartmouth, or 
Winchelsea. More active measures for the safety of the 
country were taken two years afterwards, when an array was 
directed to be made in London and in all the southern counties 
and towns. The patent^ for the array at Winchelsea, was 

* MSS. in Carlton Ride. The name of cTery man is recorded. 
^ Proceedings and Ordinances of Privy Council, vol. 5, p. 91. 
3 lb. p. 121. * Rot Pari., vol. 5, p. 335 a. 

5 Rot. Pat, 36 Henry VI, part 1, a tergo, m. 13. 



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MODERN WINCHELSEA. 103 

issued on the 80th Sept., 1457, and the inhabitants were- 
ordered to be mustered and arrayed, not only to guard 
and defend the town itself, but the other parts of Sussex. 

Sea Shore. — ^Hastings and other ports asserted their right 
to the Sea Shore between high and low water marks, against 
the claim of the Lord Warden, upon which an inquisition was 
taken at Winchelsea^ on 9th May, 21 Hen. VI, (1443) before 
Reginald Cobham, Knt., locum tenens for Humphrey Duke 
of Gloucester, Constable of Dover Castle, and Lord Warden of 
the Cinque Ports ; in which the claims were returned.^ And 
we have two commissions for embanking, issued during this 
reign. One in the 34th year, (1456) for embanking both 
sides of the common watercourse between Sedlescombe and 
Winchelsea; and the other in the 37th year, relating to 
the lands between a place called Fodyr and this town. 

Property, Names, &c. — ^The Battle Abbey Records give 
us feoffinents from Godyng Bongylstherst of this town, on 
5th April, 1425, to Henry Medehurst and William Tabbe, of 
a messuage in St. Thomas, adjoining on the east the messuage 
of Simon Flesher, formerly John Kokets ; and on 6th April, 
1428, from Medehurst and Tabbe, to John Godfrey and Joan 
his wife, which same John Godfrey, on 20th June, 1443, ob- 
tained a grant from Alicia Lyndrigge of Winchelsea, of a 
cottage adjoining his lands on the west : and as we have seen, 
was, in 1446, one of the feoflFees from Wm. Morfote. In the 
same records, we find also a feoflBment, on 22nd Oct., 1434, 
from John Hyll, clerk, and John Downe, to WiUiam Werthe 
and Isabella his wife, of a house and land adjoining on the 
south the rectory of St. Thomas. The Bering MSS. have, in 
1430, among the abutments of land in the same parish, the 
heirs of William Batelesford, land formerly Richard Burg- 
ham's, the four CapeUans of the Chantry of St. Nicholas, and 
the heirs of Robert Arnold : and a confirmation from Richard 

1 Bering MSS. J^ Dugd., p. 101. 



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104 MODERN WINCHELSEA. 

Lundeneys to Nicholas de Bury and Dionesia his wife, of a 
tenement in the town. 

Edward IV to Henry VIII. — ^From the commencement 
of the Wars of the Roses, Winchelsea affords very few mate- 
rials for history. The sea was year by year retiring ; the 
ships were unladen at the Camber or at Rye ; and the town 
gradually fell to decay. Winchelsea, however, contributed its 
quota to the fleet called out on 26th May, 1475, to do their 
service. And in 21st Edward IV, (1481) the allowance of 
the town, towards three parts of one-fifteenth and a tenth,^ 
amoimted to £20 12s. 9|d. 

In 5th Edw. IV, (1465) we have the last of the commis- 
sions for embanking.* It related to the lands in Yham, in 
the parish of St. Leonards, and from Yham to the lauds called 
Cregge, and the lands of John Fynche. Among the addi- 
tional charters in the British Museum, No. 959, et seq., are 
several relating to the embanking of Huyteflet or Whyteflet 
marsh. 

The marauding propensities of the townsmen remained 
uninjured by the gradual decay of their town. 

On Slst Jan., 1483-4, (1 Rich. Ill) a commission^ was 
issued to John Fysshe, mayor of Winchelsea, John Baseley, 
Richard Davey, and Robert Wood, on the petition of Luder 
Brames (master of a Hamburgh ship or "creyer") and of 
certain Hans merchants, to make inquest concerning and 
restitution of the said ship which had, on 20th Jan., 1 Rich. 
Ill, been seized and brought to the town of Winchelsea by 
certain servants of John Lord Clynton. And in the same 
year, there was a warrant^ to Andrew Brown of Calais, to 
seize certain herrings ftirtively conveyed out of the ship 
Laureres of Calais, and sold by certain mariners of the said 
ship, in the river of Winchelsea. 

1 Dering MSS. ^Dugd., p. 101. 

3 Rot. Pat., 1 Rich. Ill, mem. 19 d., No. 3 d. 

*Harl. MSS., No. 433, p. 164 b. 



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MODERN WINCHELSEA. 105 

In the 3rd Hen. VII, (1487) the town allowance^ for half 
one-fifteenth and one-tenth, amounted only to £12 2s. 7d. 

In 1491, (6th Hen. VII) the service of the ports* navy was 
required to transport horses to France ; and in the same year 
the king fixed the allowance to be paid for the Cinque Ports' 
navy at £500 : out of this sum Winchelsea had £80 allotted 
for famishing ten sail of ships.^ And even in 1496 the town 
had not wholly fallen in importance. It is one of the chief 
trading and sea ports, the mayors and bailiffs of which were to 
enter into an obligation^ for the due observance of the treaty of 
friendship and intercourse concluded between Henry and 
Philip Archduke of Austria. 

Very soon after this, the merchants must have left the place. 
In the return made to the writ of knighthood in 15th Hen. 
VII, (1498) it is stated that there were no persons, who had 
above £40 in goods :* and Rye^ was the seat of the trade 
when Henry the VIII, in 1538 or 1539, built the castle of 
Camber. The dissolution of the religious houses completed 
the ruiQ of the town. 

The only general document of any interest connected 
with the town at this period, is a list of the persons in Win- 
chelsea, who contributed to the Benevolence, 36th Henry 8th,^ 
(1544.) The list is preserved among the Carlton Ride MSS. 
It was a voluntary benevolence ; such of the townsmen as wished 

1 Bering MSS. 

2 Rye supplied half the number of ships, and had £40. Boys' Sandwich, 
pp. 679-778. 

3 Rym. Feed., vol. 5, pt 3, p. 86. * Bering MSS. 

* In 1513 the Cinque Ports furnished 57 ships and 1197 men, with pro- 
visions ; and on account of that charge they refused to contribute to the 
general subsidy. Boys' Sandwich, p. 682. In 1533 very few ships were 
required, and care was to be taken that they did not come from ports 
infected by the plague. The ports furnished their full number in 1541 and 
1562. 'lb. pp. 684-5-9. 

« It was, temp. Hen. VIII, that the costume of the Cinque Ports' ma- 
riners was laid down : "every person thatgoeth in the navy of the ports is 
to have a coat of white cotton with a red cross, and the arms of the ports 
underneath." Boys* Sandwich, p. 775. 



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106 MODBKN WINCHELSEA. 

to Stand well with the crown made contribution : the names 
of the contributors were 





£ 8. 


d. 




£ s. 


d. 


John Watts, mayor 


- 3 





Richard Gierke 


26 


8 


Richard Ferrat - 


- 3 





John Prawle 


26 


8 


George Lewesse - 


- 3 





Thomas CoUens - 


20 





Thomas Hinkstead 


- 5 





John Sharpe 


20 





John Lewesse 


40 





Dr. Chepman 


16 





Henry Smyth 


- 6 13 


4 


Sir Thomas Edwardes - 


8 





John Smyth 


20 





Sir Thomas N>Tt 


5 





Robert Lucas 


30 





JohnBeU - 


8 





WiUiam Hoode 


40 





Thomas HoUoke 


3 16 


8 


Robert Holden - 


40 





Goderd Heyman 


4 





Richard Sergeant 


40 





Nicholas Gierke - 


26 


8 


Edward Sargeant 


40 





Thomas Babb 


20 





Thomas Hoke 


26 


8 









Elizabeth. — The town had been entirely abandoned as a 
place of trade by the merchants^ when Elizabeth ascended the 
throne, though it was still the residence of some persons of 
local importance. There smouldered, howeyer, the embers 
of the ancient fire, and the inhabitants left no stone unturned 
to rekindle the flame: but all in vain. In 1670, they ad- 
dressed themselves to the Council,^ and they graphji^y set 
forth the then condition of the town, and propose a mode of 
relief, in a statement of the causes "why the town of Winchel- 
sey is worthy to be advanced and raised up out of the present 
poor and most lamentable state it is in." 

The statement sets out that in the memory of man it had been a town 
of great prosperity, of excellent traffic, and of most worthy service, in 
many ways to the realm. That its situation was most excellent, on a high 
rocky hill within half a mile of the main seas; that it was divided into 
squares, and the streets were large and broad, all straight as the same were 
laid with a line, and so cast that at the end of every street the town was 
to be seen through, and having yet remaining a great many costly vaults, 
arched and set forth with pillars of Caen stone, as meant to have houses 
over them fit for famous merchants; that there was in the narrow seas no 
place so fit to have a good haven made, as it was midway in a fair bay be- 
tween Rye and Hastings, with rocks within half a nule, to make piers and 
jetties; that there were three fathoms at low water, without any sand, flat 

^ Domestic Documents in State Paper Office, 1570, No. 567. 



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MODERN WINCHELSEA. 



107- 



bar, or other danger near; and that, with less than a hundred rods of cut- 
ting, through good firm marsh ground, the sea might be brought into a great 
fleet two fathoms deep, and so into the old channel where the tide ebbed 
and flowed: that such a haven would be of use to the fishermen of 
Hastings and Rye, and a safeguard for the navy and all voyagers on the 
narrow seas: and that such a place for defence was more necessary since 
the loss of Calais. 

The appeal was made in vain. The only solace the inha- 
bitants received, was a visit made to their town by the Queen,^ 
in August, 1573; when Her Majesty "beholding the goodly 
situation, ancient buildings, grave bench of a mayor and 
twelve jurates in their scarlet gowns, and city-like deportment 
of the people (there being then several gentry,) as well as the 
projection of the place, she gave it, as she thought deservedly, 
the name of Little London." Members of the coimty 
families of Ashbumham, of Fane, of Stapley, of Weekes, of 
White, and of Pecke were residents ; but, nevertheless, the 

good folks must have mus- 
tered all their forces for 
this display, to make this 
favorable impression on their 
sovereign; for Lambard,who 
published his Topographical 
Dictionary only two years 
afterwards, 1575, declares* 
that there were not then 
*^ above sixty households 
standing, and those, for the 
most part, poorly peopled : 
all which happened by rea- 
son of the sea having for- 
saken the town." 

^ This description is taken from Jeake. Mr. Nichols, in his Account of 
this Progress, (voL 1, p. 334) makes no mention of the Queen's visit to 
Winchelsea. After leaving Mr. Guilford's, at Hempstead, the only entry 
*is, " thence to Rye, where the Queen remained three days." 
^Lambard, p. 429. 




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108 MODERN WINCHELSEA. 

This favorable impression of the grave bench was turned 
to a good account, for, on 28th November, 29th Elizabeth, 
(1586) the queen granted the following estates to the mayor, 
jurats, and commonalty of Winchelsea, to hold as. of her 
manor of East Greenwich, in free and common soccage, 
paying certain small free rents to the Receiver General for 
Sussex, half-yearly at Michaelmas and Lady-day, with powers 
of distress, &c.^ 

Property, the former owners qf which are not Name of tenant at time 

named. qf the grant. 

Messuage and premises in the Strand - - Henry Pecke 

Common passage, called Winchelsey Ferry - Thomas Swallowe 

Seven acres of land in the parish of St. Leonard 
next Winchelsea ----- Mayor and Jurats 

Three acres of hanging wood in St Leonard - Mayor and Jurats 

One acre, called Pettit Higham, in St Leonard Mayor and Jurats 

Twelve acres arable, near Catsfield - Ashbumham Pecke 

And all those seven messuages or tenements for- 
merly William Pope's, and given for life by 
one of the Queen's ancestors (they appertained 
to the office of Bailiff) - - - - 

Property, formerfy part qfthe Dissolved Monastery or 
House qf Black Friars, or Friars* Preachers. 

The King's green in Winchelsea, containing 
twelve acres 

Four acres in Winchelsea - - _ . Mayor and Jurats 

One acre in St Leonard - . - - Thomas Swallowe 

A mill The Mayor and Jurats 

A windmill in Winchelsea, near the King's green Ashbumham Pecke 

A messuage and two gardens in the twenty- 
fourth quarter ------ Ashbumham Pecke 

Two acres near St Giles' church - . - John Pixie 

Land in Winchelsea, in first quarter - - Jacob Wace 

House and apple orchard in ninth quarter - Robert Gouldsmythe 

Two messuages and two gardens in fourteenth Christopher Mockett 
quarter ------- and Kichard Breadman 

^ Grant now among Corporation Records. The names of the tenants 
seem to indicate the principal inhabitants at the time, and include many 
good families. 



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MODERN WINCHELSEA. 109 



Two acres in seventeenth quarter ... Christopher Mod^ett 

A garden in third quarter, and half an acre of 
land in fourth quarter .... John Love 

One rood in eighth quarter - . . . Ooddard White 
A messuage, two gardens, and one acre in 
twenty-ninth quarter ----- Henry Wood 

Orchard in twenty-seventh quarter - - Thomas Neighbor 

Messuage and garden in tenth quarter - Adam Moyle 

Property, form^rfy parcel qf the Heme qf IMare 
Minore. 

Half an acre near Monday's Market - - John Ashebumham 
Tenement, orchard, and garden in fourteenth 

quarter .----. Joseph Denison 

Messuage, earden, orchard, and one acre in 
nineteenm quarter ..... Richard Whiblye 

Two messuages, and two gardens in thirteenth 

quarter ...... John Ashebumham 

Messuage, garden, and orchard in eighteenth 

quarter --.--. George Eockley 

Property latefy part qf the dieeohed Hotpital 
qf 8t. John, 

A messuage and ten acres of arable land, called 
the Hospital of St. John .... Phillip Dumnte 

Property, lately parcel qf the die eo k f e d Priory 
qf 8t, Bartholomew* 

A toft and two acres of land in Winchelsea - Francis Beaton 

Property, lately part qf the diaeohed Chantry, 
called Fameambe'e Chantry, 

A messuage and one rod in the Strand - - Goddard White 

A messuage and one acre in the Strand, called 
the Brewhouse ..... Robert Pearce 

Half an acre of land, and two acres in St. 
Leonard, juzta Winchelsea . . - 

A house, called the Storehouse, in the Strand - Thomas Fane 

A messuage, and garden in the Strand - - Thomas Egleaton 

Two messuages, and two gardens in the Strand Thomas Vyncente 
Two acreis of land« and one acre of fresh marsh 

in the Strand - - - - - Thomas Swallow 

A messuage, and two gardens in the Strand - Agnes Beesen 

15 



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no 



MODERN WINCHELSEA. 



Property givm fw the perpetual stutentatum qf 

Two Lights and Six Lamps in the Church qf 

St. Thomas the Apostle. 

A messuage and garden in ninth quarter 

A messuage and garden in tenth quarter 

A messuage and garden in tenth quarter 

A messuage and garden in eighteenth quarter - 

A messuage and garden in seventh quarter 

A messuage and garden in seventh quarter 

A messuage and garden in seventh quarter 

A messuage and garden in fifteenth quarter 

A messuage and garden in seventh quarter 

A messuage and garden in thirteenth quarter - 

A messuage and garden in nineteenth quarter - 

A messuage and garden in eighth quarter 

A messuage and garden in twenty-eighth quarter 

A messuage and garden in ninth quarter 

A messuage and garden in thirteenth quarter - 

Another messuage and garden in thirteenth 
quarter ------ 

A garden in seventh quarter - , . 

A garden in second quarter . - - 

Another garden in twentieth quarter 

A garden in twenty-ninth quarter 

A garden in eighth quarter - - . - 

A garden ------ 

Another garden in eighth quarter 

A garden in twenty-first quarter 

An orchard in twenty-fourth quarter 

A garden at the Strand - - - - 

A garden in ninth quarter - - - 

A garden at the Strand - - - . 

Two acres of land in St Leonard, juxta Win- 
chelsea ------- 

A ham in tenth quarter - - - - 

A ham or stahle in tenth quarter 

Another bam or stable in thirteenth quarter - 

Property given for the perpetual sustentation qf 
a Lamp in the Parish Church qf 
Icklesham. 

A messuage and seven acres of arable land in 
Icklesham 



Thomas Swallowe 
John Welles 
Richard Parker 
Hugo Wigg 
John Love 

Anthony Stapley, Knt. 
Henry Pecke 
Richard Parker 
Matthew Harrenden 
Thomas Tokeye 
Richard Whiblye 
Edmond Weekes 
Andrew Love 
Robert Gouldsmythe 
Nicholas Bottynge 

Goddard White 
Richard Waterman 
John Parle 
Thomas Swallow 
'John Pearle 
John Love 
Anthony Stapley 
Philip Denne 
Thomas Egleston 
Thomas Woodland 
John Allen 
John Durrante 
Goddard White 

John Pearle 

Thomas Fane 

John Whitfeilde 

Dorothy Middlieton> 
widow. 



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^ 


g 


^ 


EH 




S 


f^ 




PEI 


Ph 


Eh 





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MODERN WINCHELSEA. Ill 

Ten years afterwards, (1596) when five ships and a pinnance 
were offered by the Cinque Ports to the Queen, Winchelsea 
could not offer any part. 

Modern State. — Since the days of Elizabeth the sea has 
receded nearly another mile, and it is now a mile and a quarter 
from the town : which, however, has remained ahnost stationary. 
In 1705, only four freeholders, viz., James Briggs, Thomas 
Barnham, Benjamin Jackson, and Thomas Cooper voted at 
the great county contest: the principal inhabitants in 1710 
may be found in the Chamberlain's rental of that year, referred 
to in our account of the Corporation : in 1719 Dr. Harris 
describes the town as without trade, under his own house 
there were two disused crypts ; and in Sliford's Collections it is 
said, that in 1780 the streets were over-run with grass, though 
well paved. The exact state of the town in 1763 is accurately 
givfc^in Capt. Stephen's map, which we have engraved, and 
to which we have added the St. Leonard's boundary, the 
principal highways, and the numbers of the quarters, wherc- 
ever they can be clearly ascertained. We have also marked 
the spots, where crypts exist on land now without buildings : 
under many houses, particularly the New Inn, there are also 
crypts. They abound in the northern quarters of the town: 
here, therefore, the merchants resided, whilst the tradesmen 
occupied the centre of the town, near Monday's Market. 
In 1763, the chief proprietors were Capt. Pigram, who held 
the Grey Friars^ estate, of which, and of the house, we shall 
speak presently ; Mr. Nesbit, who owned Bear Square, (now 
called Barrack square, from its having been used for bairacks 
during the last war) and the greater part of the next quarter, 
westward, (No. 8,) on which, next the town hall, stood a 
large mansion, reported to have once been the house of the 
Finches, and which was afterwards the residence of the 
Kev. Drake HoUingbery, and was pulled down about 1830 ; 
Mrs. Harcourt, who owned St. Leonard's Church field. White 
Horse field. Ferry marsh, Eoundle field, and Friars' orchard; 



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112 



MODERN WINCHELSEA, 




the Earl of Egremont, who owned Holyrood field, the 

Castle field, and Chesnut field ; 
and Mr. Richard Waxdroper, 
who owned Cook's green and the 
mansion-house in the ninth quar- 
ter, called Parc^isey which is 
still standing, and is the residence 
—w of Thomas Dawes, Esq* 

Mariteau Htmse^ in the twen- 
tieth quarter, was not then built, 
it was erected soon afterwards by 
Mr. Mariteau on the land called 
Truncheons. During the pre- 
valence of that scourge, the 
small pox, it was converted 
into a hospital, for patient at- 
tacked with that frightful disease. 
The house was, in 1783, purchased by and became the residence 
of Richard Denne^ Esq., a member of the Kentish family, 

who bear for their arms, — Quar- 
terly : first, three leopard* s heads, 
affrontee, cottped at the neck, of. 
second and third, ar. three bars 
erm, in chief y as manyfleurs de 
lis, or. fourth, ar. two flamiches 
, sa.y each charged with a leopard's 
S^ (^ f^i{ fcice, or. Crest, on a chapeau vert, 
turned up erm. a demi peacock, 
wings expanded and elevated ppr. 
The Dennes resided here for 
many years, but the property 
was ultimately sold by them; 
and in 1848, was bought by 
Mr. Legg, who now occupies 
this mansion. 





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MODERN WINCHELSEA. 



. 113 



Opposite to this house, and in the nineteenth quarter, are 
the ruins of a building formerly called TrojarCs or Jews^ HcM: 
a door-way and window alone remain ; but whence it derived 
its name, or for what purposes it was used, we have neither 
an authentic nor traditional account. 

The Court Hall or Water Bailiff^ s Prison is situated at the 
north-west comer of the eighth quarter, and shows remains 
of considerable antiquity: the niches and arched door- 
way axe evidently older than the present building, which 




would seem to have been re-built in the Tudor days, from the 
materials of the older building. Until the grant of Henry 
VII to the Guldeford's, it was in the king's hands, and a 
regular rent was paid to the crown.^ It passed with the 
office of Bailiff from them through the Ashbumhams to the 
family of Curteis, to whom a rent is now paid by the Corpo- 
ration.^ 

Statistics. — The population in 1801 was 627: in 1811 
it was 652 : in 1821 it had increased to 817 : in 1831 it was 
772: but in 1841 it had gone back to 687, with only 127 
inhabited houses, and 24 uninhabited. The annual value 
of real property assessed to the property tax in 1815, was 
£2,230. The poor's rate in 1776 was £160 Is. : in 1785 it was 

1 In the accounts of the town, 1 Hen. IV, (1400) entries'of payments 
of 6s. 8d. a year will be found. See Corporation History, post. 
* See further as to the descent in our account of the manor of Higham. 



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114 MODERN WlNCHELSEA. 

£282 16s.: in 1803 it had risen to £722 8s.: in 1813 it 
reached £998: in 1821 it was £996 10s.: in 1833 it had been 
reduced to £716. Under the Poor Law Amendment Act the 
town forms part of the Rye union. 

There are no charities, and no National or British school 
within the town. 

BAILIFFS OF WINCHELSEA.i 

6 John Manassah de Winchelsea. Rot. Fat, m. 14. 

51 Henry III 1 Matthew de Hastings.* Prynne's King John. 

to 3 Edward I / Carlt Ride MSS. 

5 " Bartholomew Godard during pleasure. Rot Orig., 

Ro. 7. 
10 " Matthew de Home and John le Grit, rendering fifty 

marks yearly. lb. Ro. 8. 

12 " Matthew de Home, rendering the same. lb. Ro. 4. 

21 to 23 " Sampson Heved. Carlt Ride MSS. 

25 to 34 " Thomas Alard. lb. and MSS. in Chapt Ho. West 

34 " "I 

to 8 Edward H i ^®*^ Paulin. Carlt Ride and Bering MSS. 

8 " Alard, son of John'de "WynchelSe, during plea- 

sure. Rot. Orig., Ro. 7. 

14 " Robert Paulyn. By virtue of his office he seized 

lands and tenements of the value of £100 in the 
town of Winchelsea and marsh of Jham, which 
escheated to the King on the death of John, the 
illegitimate son of John de Rakle, and was 
charged with collusion with Walter, the illegiti- 
mate son of Geoffiy de Rakle of Berghershe, 
to lay claim as heir. Rot. Pari., vol. 1, p. 373. 

3 Edward m^ *Robert Alard and *Gervase Alard. They were 

summoned before Robert Clynton, Constable of 
Dover Castle, to account for the arrears of the 
dues. Cal. Rot Orig., vol. 2, p. 40. 

1 Those marked* are also described as Bailiffs of Rye; until temp. Hen. 
VII the Bailiflfe of Winchelsea were also Bailiffs of the King's manor of 
Iham. 

2 In 8th Edw. II, Thomas de Hastings, son and heir of William de 
Hastings, prayed that he might be exonerated from a distress, touching 
the accounts of his grandfather, Matthew de Hastings, if it should be 
found that he had fined for the same. Rot. Pari. 

^ Among the Carlt Ride MSS. is an account (2 and 3 Edw. Ill) of 
Richard Bat and Stephen de Padiham of the Customs, of the Port of 
Winchelsea : the vessels that entered and sailed were principally small 
ships from the French ports, with cargoes of wine, fish, &c. 



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4 Edward HI 


6 


(( 


11 


t( 


15 


ti 


Same year 
and to 18th 
June, 17 


i( 


17 to 20 


a 



MODERN WINCHELSEA. 116 

*Richaxd de Grofherst. lb. p. 43. 

*Stephen de Padiham during pleasure. lb. p. 69. 

The same.i Carlt. Ride MSS. • 

♦Paul Marchant of Rye and •John Glynde of 
Winchelsea. Cal. Rot. Orig., vol. 2, p. 144. 



}• 



John Glynde.2 lb. p. 146, and Carlt. Ride MSS. 



•Stephen de Padiham during pleasure. Cal. Rot. 
Orig., vol. 2, p. 158, and Carlt. Ride MSS. 

23 " *John Longe of Winchelsea. Cal. Rot Orig., vol. 
^ 2, p. 200, and Cal. Inq., p. m., vol. 4, p. 446. 

24 " *Paul Marchaunt of Rye. Cal. Rot. Oriff., vol. 

2, p. 211. He died in office, and Adam Skipsey, 
rector of Pleyden, his executor, rendered the 
account. Carlt. Ride MSS. 

25 to 30 " *John de ionge^ of Winchelsea. lb., and Cal. 

Rot. Orig., vol. 2, p. 216. 

I *Vincent Finch. Carlt. Ride and Bering MSS. 

Benedict Cely. Carlt Ride MSS. 

•William de Well. Rot Pat pt 2, m. 29. 

Philip Alard. Batt Abb. Rec. 

Thomas Truerbyn. Bat Abb. Rec. 

Robert Fyschlake. Batt Abb. Rec. 

William Catton. Batt Abb. Rec. and Rot Pari. 

William Pope, who had the office granted to him 
by act of parliament for Hfe, to hold in the same 
manner as William Catton had done. Rot Pari., 
vol. 374 a. And on 9th January, 20 Hen. VI, 
(1441) he had a grant of the messuages, lands, 
tenements, and rents which appertained to his 
office, and which had come mto the King's 
hands by the dissolution of alien Priories.* 
They consisted of a house or tenement occupied 
by Cesse Beremakere in right of his wife; a 
house or tenement occupied by Alan Pikard, by 
permission of John Beremaker ,* a house or tene- 
ment on the Keye, which William Allard 

^In the same MSS. (11 £dw. HI) is an account of the expenses of 
Stephen de Padiham for fitting a new ship for the King's service, and 
leading her from Winchelsea to London ; without any details. 

^ In 19 Edw. ni, he was committed to the Fleet as a defaulter in this 
office. Lord Treasurer's Memoranda Roll, m. 7. 

3 In 1354, Thomas Lend was his Sub-bailiff Rot Pari., vol. 2, p. 263 a. 

*Pat, 20 Hen. VI, pt 1, m. 17. 



30 to 32, 




and 36 to 40 « 


42 to 46 


it 


50 


tt 


1 


Richard II 


13 


ti 


7 


Henry IV 


3to8 


ti 


9 


it 



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116 MODERN WINCHELSEA. 



occupied by permission of the said John; a 
house or tenement occupied by Floure Benet ; 
a house or tenement occupied by Hugh Couper ; 
a house or tenement occupied by Richard Lucas, 
Irishman ; and a house or tenement occupied by 
John Mynsing, together of the value of £7 per 
annum.* 

36 Henry VI John Treberbyn, Esq., for life. Lord Treasurer*s 

Memoranda in Carlt Ride MSS., Michas. 20 
£dw. IV, m. 16. On his death 

Edward rV Simon Colyde. lb. 

14 " Thomas Cowpyldyk. Batt Abb. Rec. 

« Thomas Markham. Pat, 1 Rich. IH. 

Richard HI John Elrington, Knt., ob. on 14th June, 1414. 
There is a pardon for all arrears of accounts to 
Margaret widow of John Elrington, Knt., he 
being (inter alia) bailiff of the town after the 
death of Thomas Markham, which Margaret 
Elrington was one of the daughters and heirs of 
Thomas Echingham, a justice of sewers, &c. 
Pat. 1 Rich, m, m. 24, (1) No. 1. 

2 Richard III Nicholas Rigby, one of the yeomen of the crown, 

(Aug. 2nd) to whom the office was granted; vice John 

Elrington, Knt., deceased. Pat. 2, Rich m, pt. 
2, m. 3, No. 169. On the same day he was ap- 
pointed Constable and Keeper of Bodiam Castle, 
forfeited by Thomas Lewknor, the rebel. lb. 
pt. 3, m. 24, No. 10. 

1 Henry VII Henry Auger, Esq., who was also Constable of 

Tunbridge, and Receiver of Fowey, and to whom 
the patent of this Bailiwick was reserved out of 
ihe JB[ing^s Act of Resumption. Rot. Pari., 
lHen.VII. 

2 " Sir Richard Guldeford, Knt, by grant from the 

crown, in whose ftumly it remained tiU the 
the alienation by Edward Qiddeford. 

15 Charles II John Carryll ; and his family until sale to 

3 George HI Charles Earl of Egremont ; and his family until 

the exchange made with 

27 " Sir William Ashbumham, Bart, -Bishop of 

Chichester ; and his fitmily until alienation to 

4 William IV Herbert Barrett Carteis, who dying, 

11 Victoria Herbert Maacall Curteis, his only child, succeeded. 



^ These were afterwards granted by Elizabeth to the Corporation. See 
ante p. 108. 



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MODERN WINCHELSEA. 117 

Fairs and Markets. — ^A part of the perquisites of the 
office of Bailiff, was, formerly, the receipts at the Fair and 
Market. The fair produced, in Henry VI time, two marks. 
The proceeds were afterwards granted to Syon Monastery;^ 
and after the dissolution of that religious house, they came 
into the hands of the Corporation. In the Chamberlain's 
accounts in 1754, we find that he collected at the fair £1 Ss. 6d., 
and paid for removing the poUs, &c., 2s, 8d. The fair is 
held on 14th May; but has dwindled to a small pedlarly and 
gingerbread affair. 

The market day is Saturday: it is ahnost disused. 

Yarmouth Fishery. — The town held the same relative 
importance with respect to other towns in this fishery, as it 
did in the supply of ships for the navy: and whilst Rye and 
other smaller places sent only one Bailiff to Yarmouth to super- 
intend the rights of the Portmen, Winchelsea, as a larger port 
generally sent two, xmtil the time of EKzabeth, when by an 
arrangement, the Cinque Ports elected the bailiffit in turn. 
Nor were the men of Winchelsea behind their fellow-portmen 
in their attacks upon the Great Yarmouth men. In King 
John's days there was a complaint by the men of Yarmouth 
against the men of Winchelsea and Hastings.* In 25th 
Hen. Ill, the Earl of Hereford, Keeper of the Cinque Ports, 
was commanded to distrain the Barons of Winchelsea for one 
hundred marks, forfeited to the king for injuries done in the 
fair at Yarmouth.^ And there is no doubt, that in the depre- 
dations, burning of ships, &c., done to the men of Yarmouth 
by those of the Cinque Ports, the Winchelsea men were 
active participators. These depredations were carried on to 
a frightfiil extent. Among the MSS. in the Chapter-house, 
Westminster, there is a return * of the mischief done in the 

* Lord Treasurer's Memoranda, Carlt. Ride MSS., Michaelmas term, 
20tli Edw. IV. Rot. 16. 
2Cal. Rot. Orig., vol. 1, p. 76. 
3Ib. p. 113. *Norfolk Box, a. No. 27. 

16 



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118 MODERN WINCHELSEA. 

15th, 26th, 31st, and 84th, Edw. I; and it appears that in 
these four years 206 Yarmouth men were killed by the men 
of the Cinque Ports, in the Siviney, aiid\144 out of it; and 
that the total damage done to them amounted to £3,022 Is. 6d.) 
besides £233 4s., of the particulars of which there was no 
account: tliat 280 Suffolk men had also been killed, and there 
had been, £4,976 6s. 4d. .damage done to them: and that 387 
Norfolk men had been- killed by the Cinque Port men, and the 
damage to the men of that county amounted to £9,004 Is. 8d. 
During the same years the Cinque Ports had lost, in the 
whole, 306 men; and of this number 99 were from Sussex, 
and 122 from Kent. In the same MSS.^ is an inqtdsition 
taken at Great Yarmouth, in 31st Edward I, by which it is 
returned that in 22nd Edward I, Jacke Paulyn and Benedict 
Seman of Winchelsea, with the men of their «hip, seised at 
Plymouth the ship of Robert Wych and William de Stokesly, 
belonging to Yarmouth, and killed the captain and crew: and 
by another inquisition^ taken at Yarmouth in 26th Edward I, 
it is returned that the men in the ship of Henry Hathelard 
of Winchelsea took the ship of WiUiam de Colkyrk of 
Yarmouth with eighty tons of wine, of the value of £180. 
It was during one of the quarrels between the portsmen and 
the men of Yarmouth that a bailiff of the Cinque Ports was 
killed by one of Yarmouth, for which the latter was hanged. 
Edward I used his utmost exertions to compose these differ- 
ences, and with the aid of his council he issued the ordinance 
for regulating the trade, given in Holloway's Eye (p. 79.) 

We refer those, who wish for a ftdl account of the mode of 
conducting the' great fair and the fishery at Yarmouth, to 
Swinden's History of that town, whence^ we extract the 
names, which have been preserved of the bailiffs sent by 
Winchelsea. 



1 Norfolk Box, a, No. 54. » lb. No. 25. s Swinden, p. 181. 



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UODEBN WIKCHBtSEA. 



119 



BAILIFFS FROM WINCHELSEA TO YARMOUTH. 



13 Edward I 


William Maynard, 


Thomas Adiand 


17 


« 


William Pacy, 


William Burgeys 


18 


I* 


The same, 


John Azelard 


19 


u 


Benedict Pomaade, 


William Burgeys 


20 


t( 


John Allardy 


James Fitz Thomas- 


21 


u 


Thomas Fitz Godfrey, William Pacy 


22 


u 


John le Qerk, 


The same 


23 


u 


John Langinogh, 


John de Wherst 


24 


u 


Benedict Pomsade, 


John Ineherst 


27 


« 


William Pace, 


John Fitz Robert Paulin 


31 


« 


The same. 


Matthew Home 


34 


(( 


The same, 


James Grike 


1 Edward n 


Benedict Karite, 


John de Wherst 


2 


(( 


The same. 


Jam^s Grike 


3 


(( 


William Pace, 


Robert Achelard 


4 


(( 


The same, 


Robert Bataa 


5 


« 


Roberjb Fyckeys, 


The same 


6 


it 


The sfime, 


Benedict Karite 


7 


it 


The same, 


The same 


11 


it 


James Grik% 


John Burgeys 


12 


it 


The same, 


John Scroyl 


13 


it 


The same, 


The same 


14 


it 


The same, 


Stephen de Padyham 


15 


It 


The same. 


The same 


16 


it 


The same. 


The same 


17 


a 


John Long, 


The same 


18 


it 


The same, 


The same 


19 


it 


Benedict Alard, 


Robert Fickeys 


20 


it 


Peter Swysh, 


Henry Long 


1 Edward m 




, John de Folk 


16 


it 


Peter Fisch, 


John Fitz Henry Finch 


18 


it 


The same, 


John Henes 


19 




John atte Glynde, 


John Batte 


20 




Bichard Battle, 


James Horn 


21 




Benedict Cely, 


John Panham 


22 




Richard Batte, 


Thomas de Clavering 


23 




John Heved, 


John Saleme 


24 




Thomas Clavering, 


John Paulin 


25 




Theobald Alleyn, 


John Sandych 



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120 MODERN WINCHELSEA. 

26 Edward III Theobald Alleyn, Richard Brustelere 

27 " The same, John Sandich 

28 " JohnAllard, John Peytenyn 
32 " Vincent Fynch 

35 " John Peytenyn 

37 '' The same, and for Rye 

43 " Henry Sely, and for Rye 

44 ** Thomas Talyour, and for Rye 

45 " Thomas Sybbe, and for Rye 

23 Richard 11 Thomas Tayllor, and for Rye. (Bering MSS.) 
13 Charles 11 Roper Bamford, for Hastings, Rye, and Winchelsea 

Manufactures. — The town was not well situated for 
manufactures^ even in the time when the Weald abounded 
in wood. It was separated from the wood and iron districts 
by the marshes on the north and west: nevertheless, attempts 
have been made to introduce manufactures. 

Salt was a product, which could be readily manufactured; 
and we have already seen that salt pans existed in Old Win- 
chelsea at the Conquest, and that others were in use in the 
ground between Modem Winchelsea and the ocean, in Henry 
Vlth's time (1422 to 1461 :) how much later they were worked 
we know not. 

Charcoal. — This article was largely manufactured here, 
and the burning was carried so far that it became dangerous to 
the shipping; so that in 28th Edw. Ill there was a procla- 
mation^ for charring wood at a certain place called Le 
Sloghdam, within the port of Winchelsea and not elsewhere. 

Iron. — There were a few furnaces for the manufacture 
of Iron; and Strype teUs us^ that the first trial to find out 
the mode of transmuting iron into copper, was made here, on 
account of the plenty of wood. The work was carried on by 
one Medley, who had engaged Sir Thomas Smith and others 
in the project. The manufacture was soon moved to Poole 
and elsewhere, but at last the project proved abortive. 

1 Pat., 28 Edw, III, pt. 1, a tergo. ^j^ife of Sir Thomas Smith. 



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MODERN WINCHELSEA. 121 

Cambrics, Lawns, &c. — ^About the year 1761 a manufac- 
ture of Lawns and Cambrics was introduced into England, 
and a manufactory established here; but it being doubtful 
whether it was consistent with the laws then in existence to 
sell such articles in England, and the adventurers desiring to 
be incorporated, a public act was passed (4 Geo. Ill, c. 37) 
1763, by which it was enacted that any person might make 
and sell cambrics and lawns in this country, and the promoters, 
viz. : — The Earl of Vemey, the Et. Hon. Charles Townshend, 
Sir Geo. Colebrooke, Bart., Sir Laurence Dundas, Bart., 
Arnold Nesbit, Esq., Peregrine Cust, Esq., Geo. Prescott, 
Esq., Barlow Trecothic, Esq., Gilbert Heathcote, Esq., 
Moses Franks, Esq., Master Edward Bridgen, Master Ben. 
Bamett, Master Wm. Grace, and Master Tho. Bidewell, 
were incorporated by the title of the " English Linen Com- ' 
pany," with liberty to buy lands not exceeding the annual 
value of £500, and to raise a capital of £100,000: the 
ends of each piece were to be sealed by the Excise and the 
lengths marked upon them. For a few years the trade 
flourished:^ it was superintended by two Frenchmen, Mr. 
Maxiteau, who has left a record of his name in the house 
he bmlt for his own residence ; and Mr. Corbeaux, who 
subsequently returned to France, but came back to end 
his days here. 

When the manufacture of Cambrics was abandoned an 
Italian Crape manufactory was established by Mr. P. 
Novaille, through whose ingenuity the manufacture arrived 
at great perfection; but owing to local disadvantages it was, 
in 1810, removed to Norwich. 

Tanning was the last maniifacturing process carried on 
in the town ; the tan yard, however, has been disused for the 
last quarter of a century. 



^In the book of Chamberlain's accounts is an item, 1764, — Received of 
the agent of the manufactory for cutting brambles at the waste, Id. 



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1^ MODERN WINCHELSEA. 

ECCLESIASTICAL FOUNDATIONS. 

The CHtTRCH of St. Thobias, biiilt between 1288 and 1292;. 
is situated in one of the sqttares; between the thirteenth and 
fourteenth quarters, near the centre of the town. It was origi- 
nally dedicated to St. Thomas fitBecket, otherwise St. Thomas ' 
the Martyr, but is now called St. Thomas the Apostle. The 
choir and chancel, with some portions of the transepts, alone 
remain. It was originally a cruciform ^tructurfe of largle dinien-r 
gions. The nave has long since disappeared, and no traces of 
the foundations, after a recent and very diligent search could 
be found, excepting those of the central great pi^rs, and a small 
portion of the wall at the south-west angle, of what wafi tlie 
southern aisle. The general arrangements and dimensions of 
the choir, with the remains of the transept walls, enable us 
to form some approximation to the arrangement of the original 
structure, as will be seen in the ground plan below, fiimished 
by Mr. Gough, the architect imder whose direction the repairs 
of the chancel, undertaken entirely at the expense of Thomas- 
Dawes, Esq., have been recently carried out. The building 
originally consisted of a nave and side aisles, north and south 
transepts, and a central tower, most probably surmounted by a 
tall shingled spire, like old Fairlight, to serve as a land mark 
to mariners. 




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■*- r- 





ff. J Dm/tf-. •.iv 



FROM XORlMf WKST X.! Sor IK KAST. 



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MODERN WINCHELSEA. 123 

The nave appears to have been of less importance than the 
^hoir. The side aisles were not so wide as those in the choir; 
and in all probability a single roof, Hke the roof of the ad- 
joining church of Icklesham, spanned the nave and its side 
aisles. 

The arches at the west end, which originally opened from 
the side aisles of the choir into the transepts, have been filled 
in, and a small porch of the later perpendicular period, has 
been added. 

The choir is in length, from east to west, 56 feet; 
and in width, between the piers, 28 feet. The south 
aisle, formerly the chapel of St. Nicholas, and wherein was 
situated the Alard chantry, is 20 feet wide ; and the north 
aisle, formerly the chapel of the Blessed Mary, in which was 
the Famcombe chantry, is 18ft. 6in. wide. 

The choir is divided from the aisles by three lofty arches, 
supported on . either side upon massive piers, consisting of 
fluted and banded shafts of Caen stone and Sussex marble. 
The distance from centre to centre of each pier is 18ft. Sin. 

The chancel is 14 feet in depth by 28 feet in width. Until 
the present restoration the ancient Ecclesiastical fittings were 
entirely concealed by most imsighdy old framing and pewing, 
put up to support what was once the dignity of the mayor 
and jurats of the place. On the removal of these obstructions 
the sedilia and piscina, much mutilated, were brought to view, 
consisting of four richly canopied and recessed compartments, 
surmounted with croketted gables and pinnacles. The eastern- 
most fomung the piscina, and the remaining three the sedilia. 
The piscina had also in the upper part a richly carved stone 
shelf as a credence table ; the water-drain below, projects 
from a continuous string, which, together with the shortened 
shaft on the eastern side of the piscina, is supported upon 
foliated corbels. The entire lining of this compartment is 
richly diapered. 



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124 



MODERN WINCHELSEA. 



The sedilia are continuous : the three seats being of equal 
elevation ; the piers of separation are composed of clustered 
shafts supported upon a projecting moulded string, ter- 
minating with foliated corbels ; the central shafts are of 
Sussex marble ; and the inside wall lining, as high as the 
springing line of the canopies, is diapered, but above that 
line it is fiUed in with plain ashlering. These have been 
entirely restored. 





^ 



1 



\ ] \ } \ \ - 



I l lll l ll l lTTJ 



The remains of a small bracket, much knocked about and 
disfigured, were found attached to the wall westward of the 
sedilia. This bracket, in aU probability, sustained the figure 



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MODERN WINCHELSEA. 125 

of St. Thomas, the patron saint of the church. Upon the 
removal of an accumulation of earth within the ruins of the 
ancient sacristy, the body of a mutilated stone figure was 
discovered : the head, arms, and feet were gone, the trunk 
alone remaining. The drapery of the figure is extremely 
gracefcd and delicate, and evinces a very high order of ex- 
cellence in mediaeval art. The bracket has been restored. 

The windows on the north and south sides of the chancel 
had been bricked up and plastered over. Upon opening them 
out, the shafts and tracery were found in a very decayed 
state, but suiEciendy distinct to exhibit a very peculiar and 
handsome tracery of foreign, rather than English character : 
quatre foils are worked within the squai-e with perpendicular 
and transverse mullions rising thereout, thereby giving the 
form of the cross. These windows are within slighdy re- 
cessed arcades, composed of slender shafts of Sussex marble 
upon a continuous string of the same material, supporting 
tracery heads and hood mouldings on either side: they 
correspond, generally, with the arrangement of the window 
arcades in the north and south aisles. The nearest approach 
to these windows is to be found in a window at Chartham, 
Kent, engraved in Rickman's Architecture, (p. 142) and in 
Bloxam's Principles of Architecture, (p. 225.) 

Beneath the northern window, on the removal of his wor- 
ship's pew, was found the doorway to the sacristy. Mutilation 
had completed its work on the corbel heads ; but the jambs 
remained entire with the hinge hooks: hung upon these 
original hinge hooks a new door has been placed, and the 
sacristy has been restored. 

On the following page we give a woodcut of the northern 
window, engraved by Mr. Childs, from a drawing made by 
Mr. A. D. Gough. This window has been restored exacdy 
in its original form, and as much of the original stone as 
could be used has been preserved. 



17 



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126 



MODERX WINCHELSEA. 




■CF\ 




Tlie eastern window of the 
cliai^cel had been filled in 
with late perpendicular work J 
at variance with the general 
character of the church and 
chancel ; it was prohablj 
altered temp. Hen. VI, when 
tlie last chantry was founded. 
This window was much de- 
cayed-, and the restoration 
lias been in strict accordance 



h t |il..!..! — t- 



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MODERN WINCHELSEA. 



127 



with the style and character of the original tracery as exhibited 
in the side windows. Its effect would be improved if filled 
up with stained glass. 

The great eastern windows of the aisles are still in a dela- 
pidated and mutilated condition : the inner tracery of the 
window heads having entirely disappeared. The two eastern- 
most windows on the north and south sides of the aisles are 
in better condition, requiring but little to restore them to 
their ancient beauty : the western-most side window in each 
aisle, however, is blank, and should be fiUed in with windows 
corresponding in character with the windows towards the 
east, which, in their tracery, are varied from those of the east 
end of the respective aisles, and also from the chancel. 

Upon the removal of the chancel flooring, and about six 
inches below the then level of the modem flooring, were dis- 
covered a few of the original tiles, and being made distinct 
enough, by the junction of parts, to define the pattern clearly, 
new tiles have been made from Mr. Gough's drawings, 
by Messrs. Minton, and used in the restoration. 






A dwarf stone screen with Sussex marble capping, has been 
introduced to enclose the altar, and the flooring is laid with 
encaustic tiles, ornamental and plain alternated, and laid 
diagonally, which intermediately form the same into com- 
partments. There are ornamental marginal tiles and Sussex 



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188 MODERN WINCHELSEA. 

marble risers to the steps ; the whole corresponding with the 
ancient tile and marble-work found in the church. In 
connection with the restoration of the church, a new stone 
pulpit is to be placed on the north side of the chancel steps, 
and an oak lectern on the south side,^ and if fiinds permit, a 
new organ is to take the place of the present grinder. 

The font is modem. 

The north-western angle of the choir has been long parted 
off for a vestry, with rough biick and lath and plaster, which 
has cut off and mutilated a very fine monument, presently 
described. Some remains of the old screen-work of the 
chantries appear to have been roughly worked in for this 
filling up. 

The transept walls form a very picturesque ruin, and are 
richly overgrown with ivy, as is much of the choir. Upon 
the removal of some ivy on the north aisle, a portion 
of the original parapet presented itself. It had formerly been 



* Of the present internal fittings it may be observed, that the pews, 
like sheep pens of modem churchwturden construction, equally prevent 
the seating of such as would attend divine worship, and the due attention 
to the church services of those who do attend : and the pulpit, reading, 
and clerk's desks, one above the other in a central position, obstruct the 
entry to the chancel. The latter are in a transition state, being removed 
temporary on either side to admit of the completion of the works con- 
nected with the chancel. The old pewing, &c., is to be entirely re-placed 
by low open oak benches with carved ends. The perfect and complete 
restoration of the several monuments, with which the church is so richly 
endowed, should speedily follow, together with the restoration of the win- 
dows, nave, piers, arches, and roof timbers, which happily have been 
already relieved from lath and plaster. The entire removal of the un- 
sightly excrescence, forming the present vestry and way up to the belfry, 
(a portion of the wall of which is barbarously built through the centre of 
a monument) should follow : the clock and bell turret should be rendered 
independent of so cumbersome an arrangement, and every thing else done, 
which may be requisite to sustain these venerable remains, externally, 
as a truly picturesque and interesting object, while the interior should 
exhibit a consistent and careful restoration, combined with a judicious 
regard to the requirements of a Protestant parish church. 



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MODERN WINCHELSEA. 



129 



open and richly carved. Projecting from each transept, north 
and south, are the foundations of entrance porches: these 
are unusual, and would appear to be of later introduction than 
the transepts, though not so late as the western porch; giving 
an appearance that the nave was first lost in the early French 
attacks, and that the transepts were abandoned, when the 
church was finally altered, about the time of Edward IV or 
Henry VII. 

At the north-east angle of the sacristy is a fine massive 
flying buttress, built, it would seem, to meet a contem- 
poraneous subsidence in the foimdation of the original 
building, but adding much to the picturesque effect. 

Beneath the chancel is a vaulted crypt ; into it there were 
originally recesses for lights, which would have permitted its 
use for a penitential chapel. 

Near the south-western side of the church yard stood, 
until 1790, a campamle or bell tower. 




When it was removed, the foundations of the nave were also 
taken up, and the stones used for the repair of Rye 
harbour. 



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130 MODERN WINCHELSEA. 

Alard's Chantry. — Neither the date of the foundation of 
this chantry nor the particulars of its endowments have 
reached ns. The sedilia and piscina remain. They are on 
the same plan as those in the chancel, but of somewhat later 
date. They adjoin immediately upon the principal monument, 
and formed part of the same design. From them the founda- 
tion of the chantry may be assigned to the close of the reign 
of Edward I, or the commencement of his successor's. The 
chantry was called indiflferently St. Nicholas' or Alard's. 
Among the Dering MSS. the four Capellans of the Chantry 
of St. Nicholas are named. In the Valor Ecclesiasticuis it is 
called Allarde's Chantry. The patronage was in the Abbot 
and Convent of St. Martin at Battle : and among the seals 
found in the town, is one, which seems to have belonged to a 
priest of this chantry in the fifteenth century. The device is 
the same as the seal of Dover, St. Martin 
dividing his cloak with the beggar, which 
connects the priest with the great house of 
that saint at Battle: the legend is, — iehan 
poupart: prestre. 
In the Valor Ecclesiasticus (temp. Hen. VIII) we have 
this valuation of 

. The chantry, called "Allarde's Chantry," in the chapel in Winchelsea ; 
Richard CresseweUer, chaplain there, worth clear per annum, in glebe 
lands, houses, a water mill, and certain other lands, and returns with 
all profits and emoluments to the same chantry belonging, in the counties 
of Kent and Surrey, £13 6s. 8d. 

In the same work, among the payments of Battle Abbey, was an annual 
pension to William Culpeper, in respect of Allarde's chantry, of 66s. 8d. 

And in 1553, we find that Oliver Stacie, incumbent of 
Winchelsea chantry, had a pension of £6 13s. 4d. per annum.^ 

Godfrey's or Farncombe's Chantry. — This chantry, 
which was originally called the Chantry of Saint Thomas, was 

1 Willis* Hist, of Abbeys, vol. 2, p. 240. 




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MODKKN WINCHELSEA. 181 

founded (temp. Hen. VI) in the chapel of the Blessed Mary, by 
John Godfrey,^ who was member for this town in 1441 and 
1448 : for this purpose it was not necessary^ by the custonv of 
the town, for a freeman, giving land within the town, to have 
a royal license. The chantry was, however, richly endowed by 
his daughter, Maline (that is, Matilda) who married and had 
become the widow of Simon Famcombe. As her endowment 
included lands without the town, we find all the usual 
preliminaries. Her husband had, as we have seen, employed 
his vessels in the export of pilgrims to the shrine of St. 
James, and out of the wealth so accumulated, his widow made 
no unfit appropriation by adding to the endowments of her 
father's chantry. In 17 Edw. IV, (1477) an inquisition * ad 
quod dampnum, was held for her in respect of this chantry : 
it related to six messuages, a windmill, 175 acres of land, and 
17s. 4d. rents, in the several parishes and places of St. 
Thomas and St. Giles' Winchelsea, Westham, Horsey, 
Mankesey, Haylesham, and Langley ; and after the return of 
the inquisition, the king, on 27th Nov., 1477, granted^ her 
his license to found a perpetual chantry in the chapel of the 
Blessed Mary in the chu^jch of St. Thomas in Winchelsea ; 
the prayers to be for the souls of the King and his dear consort 
the Queen Elizabeth, for the souls of the said Maline, and of 
Simon Famcombe her late husband, the souls of John God- 
frey and Alice his wife, and of Simon Godfrey and Joan his 
wife, &c. And on 24th February, 1478, the queen consort 
granted her that she might give a messuage, called Haukham, 
and 180 acres of land, in Westham, for the perpetual main- 
tenance of a chantry priest in this chantry,^ and the king 



1 Battle Abbey Charters, p. 121. * Cal. Inq., vol. 4, p. 387. 

3 See Esch., 17 Edw. IV, pt. 2, m. 26. 18 Edw. IV, pt 2, m. 20, and 
21 Edw. IV, pt 1, m. 15, and pt. 2, m. 5. 

^Battle Abbey Records, p. 121. She had given a power of attorney to 
John/)onvers of "Winchelsea, to receive seizin of the land, windmill, and 
two tenements in Winchelsea, and the other land in Westham, &c. 



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132 MODERN WINCHELSEA. 

confirmed his former grant. In 1481 she still further endowed 
the chantry with tenements, called the Beerhouse and the 
Wharf, in Winchelsea. The patronage was in the Abbot and 
Convent of Battle. 

In the Valor Ecclesiasticus is this valuation : 

The chantry, called " Godfrey's Chantry," in the church of St Thomas 
in Winchelsea, Thomas Edwards, clerk, chaplain, worth clear per annum, 
with all profits and emoluments, £11 68. 8d. 

After the dissolution of this chantry, the tenements within 
Winchelsea were granted to the mayor, jurats, and com- 
monalty : and the land called '^ the Godfrey's," situated at 
HauMiam, in the parish of Westham, became the property of 
the Sackvilles, but a large portion has been lost by the accu- 
mulation of beach.^ 

Monuments. — In die aisles of the choir are five fine 
monuments : three are canopied tombs of cross-legged secular 
warriors : one of a young man, who had not been knighted, 
iisually, though erroneously, called a priest : and the fifth of 
a lady in the dress of Edward the Third's time, often mistaken 
for a nun. The three warriors are yi mail armour, and their 
legs are crossed in token that they had assumed the cross and 
taken a vow to march to the defence of the christian faith in 
Palestine. The figures resemble those in the Temple church, 
London, and like them have been erroneously supposed to 
be monuments of the Knights' Templars. The Templars were 
always buried in the habit of their order, and are represented 
in it on their tombs.* This habit was a long white mantle 
with a red cross over the left breast ; it had a short cape and 
hood behind, and fell down to the feet, unconfined by any 
girdle. 

Two of these tombs are in the southern aisle. The most 
eastemly, of which we give an engraving, has been ascribed by 
Mr. Blore and his editor. Dr. Bliss, with every appearance 

1 Burrell MSS. Addl. MSS., 5697. ^ Addison's Hist, of the Templars. 



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MODERN WINCHELSEA. 133 

of certainty to Geevase Alard, who is declared by Leland 
to be buried in Winchelsea. As we have seen/ he was admiral 
of the Western fleet, 81 and 34 Edw. I ; he was living at the 
time the church was built; and a memorial of his own person 
was, doubtless, added, as was the custom at that time with 
reference to benefactors to a church. In describing this 
monument, Mr. Blore^ says, that ^*it is composed entirely of 
stone, wrought with extraordinary nicety ; but now (1826) 
so thickly plastered over with repeated coats of white-wash, 
as nearly to have obliterated some of the minuter ornaments. 
The effigy is of stone, lying with its face somewhat inclined 
towards the church : it is cross-legged and armed, according 
to the style of figures of the same age, with the hands elevated, 
enclosing a heart, and having a lion at the feet. That it was 
originally painted is very clear, although the colours axe now 
BO nearly effiiced as to render the decorations on the surcoat 
unintelligible. It is without a shield, and has the mutilated 
remaiQS of two large angels supporting the double cushion 
on which the head reposes. The painted pattern on the 
cushions remains in some parts tolerably perfect ; that of the 
upper cushion consisting of a blue ground, on which are 
drawn dark Unes, forming lozenges, enclosing quatre-foils ; 
and on the lower are the same with the exception of the 
quatre-foils, instead of which small roses are inserted at the 
intersection of the lines. The aword belt has been decorated 
with painted ornaments, now nearly effaced, if we except two 
dark lines, running parallel to the sides. The knee-cap, 
which terminates in a fringe, and is decorated with a row of 
rich raised escallops surrounding the knee, has the centre of 
each escallop enriched with a lozenge in colour, with a semi- 
circle inscribed on every face." The whole is surmotmted 
by a recessed canopy, and filled up with diapered work. The 
tomb stands upon a raised plinth, and is flanked by canted 

^ See ante, p. 60. ^ Blore's Monumental Remains. 

18 



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134 



MODERN WINCHELSEA. 



ends with projecting buttresses and narrow arched openings 
between them, surmounted with crocketted gables and pin- 
nacles. The front of the tomb is filled in with small niches, 
the arched heads of which are filled in with tracery, and have 
crocketted gablets and finials. The arched canopy of the 
tomb springs from slender clustered shafts with foliated 
capitals. The arch is cinque foil with feathered tracery, and 
its spandrils are richly ornamented with foliage : the main 
gablet of the canopy springs from sovereign heads, beautifully 
carved, the expression of the Queen being most dolorous. 
Traces of coloured embellishment are discernible in parts 
throughout the monument : a wreathed band or pennant, 
twisted in a spiral form round the clustered colurilns, is clearly 
defined.^ 

The western monument differs in some particulars from the 
preceding. The figure is in stone, and the feet rest upon a 
lion ; the figure is encased in mail armour, but the arms, 
which are folded on the breast as if in prayer, do not enclose a 
heart ; and there is a shield bearing arms. It is evidently of 
somewhat later date, is less elaborate, and of somewhat 
inferior execution to the monument last described. The arms, 
A lion rampant between escallop shells, were worn by Oxen- 

-7' BRIDGE, of Brede ; but they 
married an heiress of the 
Alards, and Leland says, as- 
sumed their arms. From the 
arms, the tomb has been 
usually ascribed to one of 
the Oxenbridges. We are, 
however, more inclined to 
the belief that it is the tomb 
of Stephen Alard, who was 

^ Mr. Gough suggests that this monument may be the work of Johannes 
Lemovicencis, who, in 12*76, came over to this country to construct the 
tomb of the Bishop of Rochester, and afterwards of Aymer de Valence, 
Earl of Pembroke. 




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MODERN WINCHELSEA. 135 

admiral of the Cinque Ports' and of the Western fleet in the 
time of Edward II (1324.) The date of the monument is 
about 1340, and it was not till 1393 that we find an Oxenbridge 
mentioned as a person of importance in the district. The tomb 
stands upon a raised moulded plinth within buttresses, which 
originally terminated in crocketted pinnacles, and the inter- 
mediate compartments terminated with ogre gablets, crockets, 
and finials, which are now entirely lost. The front of the tomb 
is divided into five niches with semi-hexagonal gabled and 
crocketted canopies. From richly carved heads within the but- 
tresses springs a cinque foil arched head like that of Gervase 
Alard ; but the inside lining of the canopied recess is plain 
and not diapered. The monument has been decorated with 
gilding and colour : azure and gules being most conspicuous. 

On the three tombs in the northern aisle the effigies are all 
of Sussex marble, polished and not coloured : they lie within 
sepulchred canopies, with ogre feathered tracery heads. The 
end compartments of support to each agree in general with 
the western-most monument in the south aisle, but are smaller 
and inferior in design and execution. The tombs of the two 
male figures are alike ; but in that of the lady, there is some 
slight variation of detail. They have all been decorated with 
colour. 

The figure of the western-most monument is that of a cross- 
legged warrior in mail armour, the head resting upon cushions ; 
the surcoat is clearly marked and would appear to represent 
leather : it is open in front and exhibits the left thigh, which 
has an oval knee-cap over the mail : the left leg crosses the right; 
and both rest on a lion. A strap over the shoulder supports a 
shield, without any armorial bearings. The right hand grasps 
the hilt of a sword, upon the knob of which is the cross and 
sacred monogram I.H.C. The canopy has been most copi- 
ously treated with white- wash, but the successive efibrts for 
^kges of the local Goths^ have been unable to conceal the bold 
relief of the leaves and flowers. 



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186 MODERN WINCHELSEA. 

The middle moniiment is that of the lady. The head dress 
is close, confining the hair, and, passing over the chin, produces 
a nun-like appearance ; but the dress is open at the neck and 
bounded by a narrow fillet. The left hand lies on the 
breast and seems to have held a crucifix : the right grasps a 
portion of the dress, which falls from the hand in graceful 
folds. A short mantle presents itself over the shoulders. 
The feet rested on a hound. 

The eastern-most montunent is that of a young man dressed 
in a long robe in flutes, with tight armlets, confined at the 
wrist with small buttons. The hair lies in flat curls upon the 
forehead, and from behind is turned in curls over the ears. 
The head is supported upon cushions, and the hands are 
elevated over the breast, and closed as if in prayer. The feet 
rested upon some animal. The shoes were confined by a 
strap and buckle. 

By the position, following each other from west to east, 
and from the character of the three tombs, which seem to be 
of the same age and date, we are induced to believe that tliey 
represent a warrior, his wife, and a son, possibly an only son, 
who had died before he had borne arms. They are of the 
time of Edward III ; and the best conjecture would ascribe 
all three to the Alards, and perhaps to Nicholas Alard, whose 
daughter, Pamel, married (temp. Edw. Ill) Henry Her- 
bert, alias Finch. 

Brasses. — In the choir is a slab,formerly inlaid with brass, 
which has long disappeared. The stone has the indent of a 
fleuried cross : the following marginal inscription remains, 
each letter being indented separately. 

lECfsnautr aiatlr, ^i ^oirit8t If xb ^'Upril Vm msctlUiU gCst icp. 
IBUu \s$ almt tit mtrtU ^i pnt sa amt -ptitvu % tourti '^ yarlron 

The slab was removed within the last half century from the 
Alard chantry. Beneath it were found the bones and a glass 
bottle. 



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MODERN WINOHBLSEA. 137 

In the choir is also the brass of an Ecclesiastic^ 2fb. 4in. 
in lengthy in the attitude of prayer. The inscription-plate at 
the foot is missings as are also the shields on either side of the 
head. 

Inscriptions.— On a grave stone in the choir : 

H : S : E : Willielmus Willes, A.M., Rector hujus Ecclesiee ; qui obiit 
12^ die Decembris, anno, 1751. 

On another grave stone in the choir : 

Here lyeth ye body of Marceret lorden, late wife of leremy lorden of 
Winchelsea, who had Isve bj him 3 daughters, Margeret, Alse, and 
Martha. Shee departed this hfe the 2d of ApriU, 1636 ; aetatis suae, 63. 

Tis not rdeare sainet) a stone can deck thy hearse, 

Or can thy worth lodge in a narrow verse. 

No, (pious matron) this engraven breath 

Is not to speake tny life, but weepe thy death ; 

And is here laid by the ingenious trust 

Of a sad husband, in honor to thy dust. 

On a stone adjoining : 

Sara lorden, eldest daughter to "William lorden, and Ann his wife, of 
Edimvre in Svssex j who deceased ye 18 of Febry., 1633 j aged 7. 

On the esi&t wall of the south aisle : 

Memoriae sacrum. Obdormit hie Margareta, filia Gvilielmi Lambard de 
Westcomb in comitv Cantii Armigeri et Cancellariae ; magistri viri 
pietate et prudentia spectatissimi ; uxor autem Thomae Godfireii, Gtenerosi, 
et hvivs villas Ivrate ; cvi Lambardvm et Thomam filios peperit ; obiit 
die 29^ Ivnii, anno Sal*, 1611. Cvm Christo aeternvm victvra. (Jonjvgi cha- 
rissimsB Maritus moostissimvs cvm lachrymis posuit. 

To the memory of Edwin Beresford Dawes, eldest son of Daniel Butler 
Dawes, Esqre. of this place; born 18th April, 1808; died 15th February, 
1835. And of Amelia, daughter of the said D. B. Dawes, Esqn. • bom 
24th September, 1816 ; died 16th June, 1836. Their mortal remains are 
deposited in the family vault beneath this church. 

On the south wall : 

In the vault beneath this marble are deposited the remains of John 
Stewart, Esqn., late commander of the Mount Stuart, Indiaman ; fourth 
son of Charles Stewart, Esq™, of Ard Sheal in Argyleshire, North Britain. 
As a mark of their love and a tribute due to his great worth, his mother, 
brother, and sisters, have caused this monument to be erected. He died 
October the 3rd, 1780 ; aged 40 years. 

Beneath this tablet are deposited the remains of Sophia Dyne, one of 
the daughters of Wm. Dyne, Esqre., and Effield Dyne, of Milton, near 
Sittbiboum, in the county of Kent. She died the 24th Dec, 1809 j aged 
38 years. 



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138 MODERN WINCHELSEA. 



On the south-west wall : 

Sacred to the memory of Drake HoUingbery, clerk, M.A., late rector 
of this parish, and for upwards of forty years Chancellor of the Diocese of 
Chichester. He died December 31st, 1821 ; in the eightieth year of his 
age. 

Sacred to the memory of Elizabeth, widow of the Revd. D. Hollingbery. 
She died August 28th, 1826; in the seventy-first year of her age. 

In the family vault, near this place, are deposited the remains of Ann 
Hollingbery; who died Nov. 21st, 1843; aged 62. John HoUingbery, 
her only brother ; who departed this life 21st March, 1844 ; aged 63 ; the 
remaimng children of Drake and Elizabeth Hollingbery. 

In memory of Richard Denne, Esq«., late of this town ; who died on 
the 25th of January, 1819 ; aged 68 years ; and whose mortal remains are 
deposited in a vault in this place. Also of Mary, widow of the above- 
named Richard Denne, Esqre. She died on the 15th July, 1827 ; in the 
66th year of her age. 

To the memory of Richard Greenland Denne, late of the Inner Temple, 
London, Barrister, youngest son of the late Richard Denne, Esqre., and 
Mary his wife ; he died on the 5th Deer., 1839; aged 44. His remains are 
deposited in the family vault in this church. Also to the memory of 
Mary Jane, wife of Robert William Newman, of Mamhead, in the county 
of Devon, Esqre., and youngest daughter of the said Richd. and Mary 
Denne. She died on the 28th July, 1834 ; aged 42 ; leaving 4 sons and 5 
daughters surviving her. Also of the above-named Robert William New- 
man, (late Sir R. W. Newman, Bart.) formerly representative for 
Bletchmgly, and subsequently in two successive parliaments for the city 
of Exeter. He died on the 24th Janry., 1848; aged 72. 

To the memory of three sons of Nathaniel Dawes, Gent., late of this 
town, and Elizabeth his wife : namely, of Captn. Nathaniel Dawes ; who 
died at the seige of Bangalore, in the East Indies, on the 24th of March, 
1791; aged 40 years; of Ensign James Dawes; who fell at Penin-bar- 
cum, in the battle between Hyder Ally and Coll. Baillie, on the 10th of 
September, 1780 ; aged 23 years ; and of Lieutt. Richard Dawes ; who 
was mortally wounded in the engagement betwixt the English and French 
fleets on the memorable 1st of June, 1794, and died on the 5th ; aeed 34 
years ; this marble as a tribute of sincere affection is inscribed. Also to 
the memory of Walter Dawes, another son of Nathaniel and Elizabeth 
Dawes ; who died at Macassar, in the autumn of 1804^ aged 40 years. 

Sacred to the memory of Jane, the wife of Edwin Dawes ; who died 
the 17th May, 1820; aged 83 years ; and whose remains are deposited in 
a vault in the front of Qiis church. In the same vault are deposited the 
remains of George Dawes ; who died on the 17th November, 1820 ; aged 
59 years. Also, in the same vault, are deposited the remains of the 
above-named Edwin Dawes; who died on the 30th of Septr., 1824; affed 
75 years. ^ ^ 

Sacred to the memory of Richard Maliphant, Esqw., late of this place ; 
who departed this life October 8th, 1823 ; ©tat. 68. 

To the memory of Mrs. Baldwin, wife of Captain Baldwin, of the King's 
Own Infantry, and daughter of General Prescott, Governor and Commander 



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MODERN WINCHELSEA. 139 

in Chief in British North America; who died 22nd June, 1798; in the 24th 
year of her age ; to the memory also of their Infant Son ; this monu- 
ment is erected as a mark of grateful affection by her husband, who, in 
all situations in life, must deplore their loss. 

Tablets outside the church : 

In a vault beneath this marble are deposited the remains of Bichard 
Stileman, Gent., late of this town; who died the 8th of April, 1795; in the 
56th year of his age. And of Mrs. Katharine Stileman, wife of ihe said 
Richard Stileman ; who died the 17th January, 1795 ; in the 56th year of 
her age. In the same vault are deposited the remains of Robert Stile- 
man, Gent.; who died 5th October, 1802; aged 56 years; and Mary, relict 
of the above-named Robert Stileman; who died 2nd January, 1830; in the 
88th year of her age. 

Sacred to the memory of Richard Stileman, Esq'®., late of the Friars ; 
who died the 10th of October, 1844; aged 57 years. Also of Sarah Cur- 
teis, his wife ; who died the 29th of September, 1844 ; aged 50 years. 

In a vault under this marble are deposited the remains of Jane, wife of 
D. Hollingbery, clerk ; who died Jany. ye 26th, 1776; aged 27 years. 

In a vault beneath this tablet are deposited the remains of Eliza 
Frances, wife of Thomas Richards, clerk; who died the 29th June, 1819; 
aged 39 years. Sacred also to the memory of the Revd. Thomas Richards, 
clerk, B.A., of St. John's Coll., Cam., Vicax of Icklesham; who departed 
this life Deer. 6th, 1843; aged 53 years. His remains lie beneath the 
communion table in Icklesham church. This stone is erected as a filial 
duty by the Revd. T. W. Richards, M.A., Sid. Coll. Cam., and the Revd. 
J. Richards, M.A., University Coll. Durh., only surviving children of the 
above Eliza Frances Richards. 

In a vault beneath this stone are deposited the remains of Charles 
Terry, late Jurat of this corporation; who died the 17 th of January, 1818; 
aged 70 years. Also Mary, wife of the above Charles Terry ; who died 
the 1st of May, 1818 ; aged 60 years. 

In a vault under this stone are deposited the remains of Rachel, wife 
of Richd. Ade; she departed this life Feby. 2d, 1787; aged 72 years. 
And also of Richard Ade ; he departed this life Feb. 15th, 1802 ; aged 
81 years. 

The Living of St. Thomas is a rectory in the Deanery 
of Hastings, and within the Archdeaconry of Lewes and 
Diocese of Chichester. In Pope Nicholas' Taxation (1291) 
it stands : 

Eccl'ia de Thomae de Winchelsee, £10 13s. 4d. 

p*t bre de xxxv*. vij<?. Rector. 

In the Valor Ecclesiasticus (temp. Hen. VIII) the value is 
thus given : 



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140 MODERN WINCHELSEA. 

In the church of St. Thomas in Winchelsee, Edmund Atkynson, clerk, 
rector, there worth clear per annum, with all profits and emoluments, 
beyond 18d. paid amiually to the bishop, " pro sinodal." and 2s. 2d. 
annually "pro procuracione," and lOs, to the archdeacon for the same> 
£6 13s. 4d. 

In the King's books it is valued at the clear yearly sum of 
£28. 

In the 2 Henry IV, (1400) there was a grant confirmed by 
Henry VI, (1426) to the Hector of St. Thomas, of a tenth of 
the fishery there, called Christ's share.^ An award for the 
commutation of the tithes was made on 7th March, 1842 and 
the apportionment was confirmed in the same year. The an- 
nual sum, for which the tithes were commuted, was £235 9s. 3d.: 
and the estimated quantity of titheable land, included in the 
apportionment, was 720a. 3r. 9p., which was cultivated thus : 
112a. Ir. 22p. arable ; ^TIsl. St. 26p. meadow or pasture ; 
16a. 3r. 20p. woodland ; 108a. 2r. Ip. sandbanks, roads, or 
waste lands; and 5a. Or. 20p. as gardens, exclusive of gardens^ 
occupied with dwelling houses : the gardens so attached and 
occupied are exempt from payment of tithes in kind, by reason 
of a payment calculated on a proportion in the poxmd on the 
value.' This proportion is 2s. in the pound on the actual 
value. 

The parsonage house has fallen to ruin. On 10th August, 
1349,* a commission was directed to John Longe, then the 
King's Bailiff of Winchelsea, to enquire the value of a house 
seized into the king's hands, in which John Glynde, late 
rector of St. Thomas' church, died ; and in return to the 
writ, the Jurors said that the messuage was worth 6s. per 

1 Pat, 2 H. rV, pt. 3, m. 31 ; and 4 H. VI, pt. 2, m. 18. 

*In 1837 there were 10 acres of hops. Pari. Return. 

* Apportionment in office of Tithe Commissioners. The rental in the 
poor rate for the whole parish in 1849 was £2,286 158.; and the rate at 
6s. in the pound for the year ending 25th March, 1850, (see ante, p. 114) 
amounted to £571 13s. 9s. 

*Inq., 23 Edw. HI, pt. 2, (1 nrs.) No. 173. 



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MODERN WINCHELSEA. 141 

annum^ and not more; that it contained in length 80 feet^ and 
in width 40 feet; that it was formerly held of the king by the 
rent of 4d. per annimi; and that it came into the king's hands 
by the deaths without heirs^ of Matilda^ the daughter of Jacob 
Licotyn. The house was situated on the eastern side of the 
church yard, and was in the same year and on the return of 
the inquisition, granted by the king ^ to John de Scarle, then 
rector of St. Thomas, for the inhabitation of himself and his 
successors, rectors of the said church. 

The patronage of the church was in the Abbot of Fischamp 
until the town was taken into the king's hands by Henry III : 
who took also the patronage of the churches. The Crown 
continued to present* until the grant by Henry VII to the 
Guldefords. From that time the patronage followed the same 
descent as the manor of Higham, until sold by the Ashbu^- 
hams, in 1834, to James Eldridge West, Esq. 

Rectors of St Thomas. 

PATRON. 

1 Edw. I Warner. See ante, p. 15. The Crown 

23 Edw. m (1349) John de Glynde late rector. Cal. 

Inq., p. m., vol. 4, p. 446 - Same 

John de Scarle. See above - Same 
INSTITUTIONS.^ 

1405. April 16. William Tyrell - - Same 

1412. June. John Wade - - Same 

1438. Oct 8. Walter Peytewyn - - Same 

1478. Richard Majrew,* (Story's Visi- 

tation;) resigned 

1482. Dec. 12. David Parsons - - Same 

^ Cal. Rot. Orig., vol. 2, p. 206. 

2 In the confirmation, 1 Edward IV, (1461) of the Rape of Hastings, to 
William Lord Hastings, among other things granted, are the advowson and 
patronage of the churches of St. Clement and All Saints, Hastings, and 
of the churches of St George of Brede, and of the Saints, Thomas the 
Martyr, Giles, and Leonard, at and within the town of Winchelsey. MS. 
belonging to the Earl of Chichester, ex. inf., John Phillips, Esq. The 
Crown, however, presented in 1482. 

^ From the Bishop's Registers, ex. inf., J. B. Freeland, Esq. 

* He is called Thomas Mayhew in Batt Abb. Rec, p. 120. , 

18 



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142 MODERN WINCHBLSILt. 



1500. 


Aug. 18. 


John Haddenham 
Robert Wode, died - 


The Crown 


1527. 


June 15. 


Richard Darell, resigned 


Sir Edw. Guldeford 


1529. 


Feb. 18. 


Edmund Atkjrnson 

Henry Strensham, resigned * 


Same 


1543. 


Oct 5. 


Thomas Chapman 
Peter Danyell 


Sir John Gylford 


1555. 


Oct 24. 


Robert Jordan, on deposition 


of The Bishop (jure 



Peter Danyell - - devoluto) 

Peter Danyell was restored by 
Bishop Barlow,^ (died) 

1565. Dec. 2. Richard Roberts - - Thos.Guldeford,Esq. 

1587. March 29. Robert Poole - - The Crown (by lapse) 

1612, to 4th July Robert Thomson > - 
1620. 

1640. Martin Fist « 

1671-2. Nov. 19. Richard Acton - - The Crown 

1686. Edward Matthews ; ind. 7th June* 

1690. Dec. 16. John Harris,* A.M., afterw. D.D. The Crown 

1707. Feb. 27. John Prosser, curate 1700, rector 
on resignation of John Harris ; 
bu. 30th April, 1722 - Thos. Muchell 

1723, Aug. 24. William Willes, A.M., ob. 12th, Trustee for the 
bu. 20th Dec., 1751 - Carylls* 

1752. June 5. Richard Tireman, A.M. - Thomas Paine 

1767. Oct 21. Drake Hollingbery,A.M. He was 

curate in 1 764, succeeding the Rev. . 

John Rudd ; ob. 31st Dec., 1821 Earl of Egremont 

1822. Jan. 14. John William Dugdell, A.M., ex- 
changed for ^ington-Magna SirW.Ashbumham 
Dorset, with - - and his mortgagees 

1829. Nov. 19. Hans Sanders Mortimer, A.M. The same 

1831. Oct 20. James John West, A.B. He was 

curate in 1829 - - The same 

^ In 1563 there was no rector or curate resident See certificate of 
Bishop Wm. Barlow. HarL MSS., No. 594, 109. 
2 HarL MSS., No. 703. * Parochial Register. 

* The Historian of Kent and Secretary of Royal Society. In the Parish 
Register is this entry : " Sept 7, 1690, John Harris, derk, yicar of Ickles- 
ham, entered on the cure of this parish by virtue of the especiall order 
and licence of the Rt Rd. Father in God Symon of Chichester, and of a 
sequestation from the Chancellor Dr. Briggs, bearing date Sept 6, 1690 : 
and February the 15th following (having institution from the said Bishop) 
read his articles : and having induction the day before, given him by Mr. 
Brian of Gestling." 

* The Carylls were Catholics and could not present. 



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MODERN WINCHELSEA. 143 

The earliest register commences only in 1655 ; and until 
1690, diat IB only a compilation made by Dr. Harris. 

The Chukch of St. Giles was situated at the western 
side of the town, between the twentieth and twenty-first 
quarters. It consisted of a nave, chancel, one aisle, and a small 
tower, with one bell.^ The walls were standing in Lambard's 
time, 1570, but it was described by Thomas Godfrey in 
1608-9 as ruinous. The walls .have since been removed. The 
foundations may, however, be traced in dry summer weathen 
In the winter of 1899-1400, a large tree, which contained no 
less than 682 feet of timber, (probably a wych elm) was cut 
down in the church yard, and converted into shields.' 

The original church was built at tiie same time as the foun- 
dation of the new town, to accommodate the inhabitants of a 
small portion, the nortii-westem side of this town. It suffered 
great damage during the French attack in 1859, when the 
parsonage house seems to have perished: for not only is 
tiiere a patent' for enlarging the church yard, which had 
been rendered too small in consequence of tiie burial of those, 
who had been slain in the conflict, but there was a license in 
the same year ^ to Robert de Brembre, clerk, to assign a 
messuage near tiie church of St. Giles, to Robert tiie parson 
of the same church, for a habitation for him and his successors 
for ever. This residence was also allowed to go to decay, 
and the site of the parsonage and church yard was a pasture 
field until 1849, when the present rector commenced re- 
building a parsonage house for the two parishes of St. 
Thomas and St. Giles, on a part of St. Giles' church yard. 

In Pope Nicholas*. Taxation, 1291, the church of St. Giles 
is rated at £6 13s. 4d. In the Valor Ecclesiasticus, 8th April, 
35 Henry VIII, 

The rectory was worth, clear of all reprisals, per annum, £1 6s. 8d. 

^ Corporation Accounts 1388. Bering MSS., post. 

2 Corporation Accounts 1399-1400. lb. 

3 Rot Pat, 33 Edw. m, m. 4. 

^ Rot Pat, 33 Edw. HI, pt 1, m. 4, and Cal. Rot Orig., p. 255. 



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144 MODERN WINCHELSEA. 

No name of any rector is given. 

The patronage has followed the same descent as that of St. 
Thomas; and since the year 1500^ when the last institution of 
a separate rector of St. Giles took place, the two rectories 
have been held together, though not imited, and though no 
formal presentation to St. Giles has been made. We have 
the names of three rectors preserved. 

Rectors of St, Giles. 

1483. Bobert Seggeforth. Bering MS& 

William Wightman. Bishop's Begisters. 
1500. July 25. Lawrence Pike, on resignation of W. Wightman. lb. 

RELIGIOUS HOUSES. 

The Gray Friars. — ^The house of the Friars Minors, 
which had been founded in Old Winchelsea soon after the 
establishment of the order in England in 1224, was moved to 
the hill on which the new town was about to be built, and one 
of the best sites was selected for the new building.* It was not 
enumerated in the quarters, but was on the east side of the 
town, bounded on the south by the twenty-seventh quarter, 
on the west by the twenty-third, and on the north by the 
seventeenth quarter. That the order was at once re-established 
here, is clear, for we have seen, in the assignment of places in 
the new town, 16-20 Edw. Ill, an allotment in the second 
quarter to Andrew of the Monastery : and about 1290 a dis- 
pute having arisen between the Convent of Westminster and 
the Friars Minors, about the restoration of William Pershore, 
one of their order, the Pope directed the Convent to pay 100 
marks for costs, which were afterwards commuted to 60 
marks, and were paid for the help of two poor houses of these 



" In Sliford's Collections Lansd. MSS., No. 906, p. 69, his house is 
said to have been founded by "William de Buckenham, (temp. Edw. II) 
and that King Edward III confirmed the possessions. This must be an 
error. 



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MODERN WINCHELSEA. 



145 



friars, Winchelsea and Lichfield.^ Peckham, then archbishop, 
had been a member of their order, and would naturally be 
desirous of favoring the brothers. 

By degrees they received other benefactions; and their 
house and chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary, were large 
and handsome. 







The choir of the chapel is still standing, and with its apse 
and its lofty arch, of a span of 26 feet, forms a most pic- 
turesque ruin. 

^ Widmore's Wesminster, p. 79. The house at Lichfield was founded 
about 1229. Shaw's Staffordshire, p.v320. 



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146 MODERN WIKCHELSEA. 

The lithograph view, from a drawing made by Buck in 
1737, shows the position of the cloisters and cells, whith have 
since been removed. 

Of the piety or learning of the brethren, little record re- 
mains. The only trace we have, is, that one brother, Thomas 
of Wynchelsey, D.D., was a large contributor to the library 
founded by the renowned Whittington in 1429, in the house 
of the Gray Friars in London, and a generous bene&ctor to 
their new church ;^ in which he was buried in February, 14S6. 
John de Winchelsey, canon of Sarum, was a noviciate of the 
Gray Friars.* The benefactors to the Winchelsea house 
included the most eminent of the merchants and land owners 
of the town. In 1413, the Convent of the Friars Minors 
granted prayers and masses to their special benefactors, 
Vincent Finch and Isabella his wife : ^ by his wiU, dated 
1st Dec, 1432, Sir Thomas SackviUe, knt., bequeathed to 
these brothers Minors 10s. :* and this house is mentioned as 
the third house in the custody of London in the old cata- 
logue of the Franciscan order.^ 

The house fell with the other houses of this order. The 
ornaments and fiimiture were removed, but the cells and 
chapel were not wholly destroyed. Richard Bishop of Dover, 
writing to Cromwell, Lord Privy Seal, and giving an account 
of the destruction of religious houses, says, " [at] Wynchelse 
according to yower commandment I have sold the stuff: the 
house is at the king's commandment and yowres."® The 

* By the procurement of B. Thos. Wynchelsey, D.D., in 1420, the new 
church, in London, was wainscotted at the expense of 200 marks, and 
painted at the expense of 80 marks. He also procured other convenient 
buildings for the brethren. The whole expense of furnishing the library 
with books was £556 16s. 9d., whereof Richaid Whittington gave ^400, 
and Dr. T. Winchelsey gave the other jei56, and also 100 marks for 
^anscribing the works of Nicholas de Lyra in 2 vols., to be chained there. 
Dugd. Monas., vol. 6, pp. 1514-20. 
2 Cotton MSS., Vitellius XII, p. 227-236. » Bering MSS. 

Collms' Peerage, vol. 2, p. 705. « Tanner's Not. Mon., p. 564. 

Suppression of Monasteries. Camden Soc. Publications, p. 200. 



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.:*:% 



h3 



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MODERN WINCHELSEA. 147 

buildings were placed under the custody of Capt. Philip 
Chowte, at that time captain of Camber Castle. 

On 19th March, 1546, (36 Hen. VIII) the king, in con- 
sideration of £766 lis. lOd., paid into the Augmentation 
Office, by George ClyfFord, gentleman, and Michael Welbore, 
gentleman, gave and granted^ to them (among other estates 
in different counties) and to their heirs, &c.. 

All that house or scite of our house, lately the Priory of the 
Friars Minors, commonly called the Greye Freyers of Wynchelsey, in 
our county of Sussex, together with all other houses, edifices, messu- 
ages, tenements, cottages, orchards, gardens, closes of land and founda- 
tions, with the appurtenances, now or lately in the tenure or occupation 
of Philip Chowte or his assigns, situate, lying, and being in Wynchelsey 
aforesaid, and lately called the House or Priory of Friars Minors, in 
Wynchelsey, lately dissolved, and rents there, then of the clear an- 
nual value of 20s. 

The grantees acquired in the same grant the King's Grefen, 
which adjoined the Gray Friars ; and the two properties 
having thus become imited have since passed together. The 
house was occupied as a farm house, and the chapel converted 
into a bam. The Millners would seem to have been owners 
at the close of the sixteenth century, as their arms, granted 
by Camden, as Clarencieux, (1597 to 1623:) Erm. three 
wolves heads ^ couped ppr,, and crest, A wolfs head couped 
ppr.y pierced toith a javelin ar. and az., were in the windoi^s 
of the house, now taken down. 

In the early part of the seventeenth century this estate 
became the property of John Plumer, gent., whose widow, 
marrying John Weekes of Westfield, carried the estate to him. 
Their son and daughter, John Weekes and Mary Weekes, 
sold it to William Alderton of Winchelsea, who died S.P., 
1687. On 30th Nov., 1696, Thomas Alderton of Winchelsea, 
barber-surgeon, his nephew, sold to Thomas Famham of 
Beckley, yeoman, his reversion in 

iPat. 36 Henry Vm, m. 15, (32) in Rolls Chapel. 



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148 MODERN WINCHELSE^V, 

All that scite or mansion house of the late dissolved Priory of the 
Friars Minors, commonly called the Gray Friars, in the ancient towne 
of Winchelsea, one bame, commonly called the Stone Bame, with the 
cellar or vault under the same, one stable, and the orchards, cherry 
ground, &c., and seven pieces of land, with the pendents of the hill 
thereto belonging, called by the names of the King's Garden, otherwise 
King's Green fields, the two small meadows, Bame field, Hop Garden 
field. Long field, Monday's Market field, and Pendents of the Hill, then 
in the tenure of John Padiham, which William Alderton, the uncle, 
before 1687, had purchased of John Weekes. 

In 1713, Maxy Famham of Udimar, only daughter and 
heiress-at-law of Thomas Famham, for considerations amount- 
ing together to £660, sold the same property to Samuel 
Newman, jurat of Winchelsea ; and in 1731, Robert Newman, 
his son, and Elizabeth his wife, sold this (inter alia) to 
Thomas Fuller of this town. In 1789, his trustees, among 
whom was Samuel Jeake, aliened to Nathaniel Pigram of Rye, 
gent., who, most probably, repaired and improved the house ; 
and who, in 1764, devised these premises to his son Nathaniel: 
and he, in 1764, devised them to his nephew, Nathaniel 
Pigram Beaver, for 99 years if he should so long live, with 
remainder to his heirs, and in default thereof to the testator's 
own right heirs, who were his two sisters, Jane, the wife of 
Thomas Halford of Rye, surgeon, and Eleanor the wife of 

Beaver. The nephew died without issue, and the 

estate passed to the coheiresses. In 1773, Mr. Holford and his 
wife, and Jane the daughter of Eleanor Beaver, conveyed the 
premises to Mr. Holford and his wife, who, in 1797, in con- 
sideration of £8,710, sold to Richard Barwell, Esq., these and 
other estates, containing together 46 acres. Mr. Barwell made 
a good bargain, for, in 1803, he sold the same 46 acres in 
consideration of £12,000 to William Henry Earl of Darling- 
ton. In 1804 the Earl sold them for £10,000 to Thomas 
Uoyd, whose property was sold in 1819 under a decree of the 
Court of Chancery ; and the house, with the Chapel, Cherry 
Garden, Monday's Market, King's Green, &c., was purchased 



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PI.ATK vnr 





Ji.Jim^.-'^^. 4^ 



THE FRIARS 

FH-OM TlIE EAST. 



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MOBBKN WINCHBLSEA. 



149 




by the late Richard Stilbman, Esq^^ who pulled down the 

old house and erected the present 
mansion. In his family the estate 
still remains. They bear for 
their arms : Sa. an unicorn pas- 
sant ^ or. an a chief of the second 
three billets of the first ; and for 
dieir crest : A camePs head erased 
az. coQaredy lined and ringed, or. 
The remainder of the property 
bdonging to this house consisted 
of half an acre near Monday's 
Market; two messuages and two 
gardens in the thirteenth quarter ; 

a tenement, orchard, and garden in the fourteenth quarter ; a 
messuage, garden, and orchard in the eighteenth quarter; and 
a messuage, garden, orchard, and one acre in the nineteenth 
quarter. These were retained in the hands of the Crown until 
1586, when, as we have seen,* they were granted by Queen 
Elizabeth to thd mayor, jurats, and commonalty of the town. • 

Eagles have not unfirequently been shot at Winchelsea : one, 
winged near Camber in the early part of the spring of 1837,, 
has been kept in the grounds of the Gray Friars, and is still 
alive there. 

The Black Friars. — The house of the Friars' Preachers 
or Black Friars, was founded by Edward II, in the year 1318. 
It was first established in the place called the King's Green, 
containing twelve acres, which was then vacant, and which, 
together with the Pendents of the Hill thereto contiguous, was 
granted by the King, 19th March, 11 Edw. 11,^ to his beloved 
in Christ, the brothers of the order of the Prel.chers, for the 
purpose of building a church for the celebration of divine 



^ Deeds in possession of B. Stileman, Esq. 
3 Pat Eoll, 11 Edw. II, part 2, m. 29. 



2 Ante, p. 109. 
20 



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160 MODERN WINCHELSEA. 

worship, and houses and buildings for the habitation of the 
brethren of the order. This grant was confirmed by Edw. Ill, 
in the thirteenth year of his reign, 1339. The order had be- 
come popular in the town : in the same year as this confirmation, 
WiUiam Bacon of South Iham, obtained the King's license^ 
to grant to this house six acres of land near Winchelsea* 
Subsequently the King granted to them another site nefar to 
St. Giles church; and the townsmen conveyed other property 
to them. On 18th February, 1368, the King issued his patent,* 
wherein he recited the return to an inquisition ad quod 
dampnum, that it would not be to any one's damage if he 
granted to his beloved in Christ, the Prior and brethren of the 
order of the Preachers in the town of Wynchelse, one acre 
of land with the appurtenances, lying near a certain windmill 
in the parish of St. Giles, in the same town ; and if he per- 
mitted Robert Cely to assign one messuage, Richard Baddyng 
one messuage, William the son of John Long one messuage, 
Robert Treignon and Stephen Treignon one messuage, and 
John Tighlere one messuage, with their several appurtenances, 
in Winchelsea, held of the King, to the said Prior and 
brethren to hold, together with the said acre of land, to them 
and their successors, to build a new oratory there, and also 
certain houses for their own habitation : the King made the 
grant of the acre accordingly, and gave the license to R. Cely 
and the others to assign, the statute of mortmain non obstante. 

The Prior and brethren built a new and commodious house 
and oratory on their new land, and thither they removed. All 
that remains of this house, is to be found in a few walk and 
five spacious crypts at the east side of a field, now called 
Chesnut field. The arches were groined, and on the south 
side of the entrance, which was at the eastern end, there is a 
piscina. 

The order in this town met with equal favor from Henry 
VI, who, on 18th November, 1429, granted to them an In- 

1 Pat. 13 Edw. m, pt. 1, m. 22* » Pat. 32 Edw. HI, pt 1, m. 23. 



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MODERN WINCHELSEA. 151 

speximus Charter,^ in which he recited the Foundation Charter 
of Edw. II, and a charter of Edward III, dated 26th Novem- 
ber, 1372, wherein the King forgave to the Prior and convent 
of the house of the order of the Brothers* Preachers 6s. 8f d., 
(being the King's rents of the five houses given to them in 
1358) theretofore paid for the site of their house by the hands 
of the mayor and bailiffs for the time being ; Henry VI con- 
firmed these grants and privileges to the then Prior and convent 
and to their successors ; and Sir Thomas Sackville, who was, 
as we have seen, a benefactor to the Gray Friars, by his will, 
dated 1st December, 1432, (11 Hen. VI) bequeathed 10s. to 
these Friars Predicants.^ 

This house of Black Friars fell with the lesser houses, and 
on 19th March, 1545, (Henry VIII) by the same grant that 
he conveyed the site of the Gray Friars to George CliflTord 
and Michael Wildbore,^ granted to them and their heirs, 
executors, and administrators. 

All that house or site of one house or late Priory of the Friars* 
Preachers, commonly called the Black Freyers of "Winchelsey aforesaid, 
in our county of Sussex, with all other the house, edifices, messuages, 
tenements, cottages, gardens, &c., with the appurtenances then or then 
lately, also in the occupation of Philip Chowte, and rents then of the 
clear value of 5s. 

No attempt seems to have been made to preserve the build- 
ing, of which only the few walls are standing, and now form 
part of a bam and shed. The vaults beneath have served the 
good purposes of the smugglers : and there was much super- 
stitious and illicit mystery hovering round these crypts when 
we visited them in the autumn of 1849, and fixed the site 
beyond all doubt. 

For many years after the grant we have found no 
traces of the owners of the house or land : but the property 
passed through the hands of Mr. Chesson about 1680, 

1 Pat. 8 Hen. VI, pt. 1, m. 19. » Collins' Peer., vol 2, p. 70^, 

3 Pat. 36 Hen. VHI, m. 15 (32.) 



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152 



MODERN WINCHELSEA. 




from a corruption of whose name the field is called Chesnut 

field. The site is now owned 
by Thobias Dawes, Esq. The 
arms are : Ar, on a bendy az. co- 
tizedy gu, three swans , or. hetw. six 
battle axeSy sa. Crest, A halbert 
erect or. on the point a flying 
dragon for wivemj or, vnthout 
legsy tail nowed sa. bezant^e, 
vulned gu. 

The remainder of the posses- 
sions of the Black Friars within 
the town, were granted, as we 
have seen,^ by Queen Elizabeth 
in 1586, to the mayor, jurats, and 
commonalty of the town. 

A Preceptory dedicated to St. Anthony existed here ; 
but of its situation or endowment we have no knowledge. A 
brass seal of the house was found in the town, representing a 

monk, holding in one hand 
a book, and in the other a 
lanthom to St. Anthony, who 
is followed by his emblem, 
the Pig ; with the following 
legend : s : preceptorie : 
S: ANTONII. de gratjenon. 
This may have been a cell of 
the Abbey of Grestein, in 
Normandy; they had a 
house at Wilmington. The 
arins at the foot of the seal are those of De la Pole, a family 
connected with the Cinque Ports from the time of Edw. III. 
The seal itself is of the period of Hen. VI. 

1 Ante, p. 108. 




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MODERN WINCHELSBA. 158 



HOSPITALS. 



There were places assigned^ on building the new town, for 
three hospitals, all of which were situated on the south side 
of the town, where it was entered from Fairlight by the New 
Gate. 

St. John's Hospital was situated at the north-eastern 
comer of the thirty-fourth quarter, at the junction of the 
present road leading to Icklesham and the road to Pett. The 
gable end of the building is still standing, and the field retains 
its name of St. John's or Chapel field. This hospital was for 
both brothers and sisters. It had, at its dissolution, a house 
and ten acres of arable land within the town ; and also rents 
payable out of some houses in Great Yarmouth.^ It ceased 
to exist in the time of Henry the VIII, and probably fell 
with the two houses of the Friars. 

The Holy Cross or Holy Boon was situated in the 
thirty-ninth quarter, where one acre of land was assigned for 
it under the yearly rent of Ss. : subsequently an addition was 
made to its possessions in the thirty-eighth quarter; and it had, 
at its fall, 6a. 2r. 27p.,which were granted by Elizabeth to the 
mayor, jurats, and commonalty. The master of this hospital 
confirmed the tenths of Stonmersh, in Icklesham, to the 
Abbey of Batde.^ 



^ Swinden, in his History of Yannouth, p. 18, says, ''there is great reason 
to believe that the first founders of Great Yarmouth were portsmen, and 
for several centuries afterwards came and resided here ; became seized of 
lands and tenements ; and at their deaths, in memory from whence they 
came, bequeathed some portion thereof to their countrymen. Among the 
annual rents payable to the Cinque Ports, out of lands and tenements in 
Great Yarmouth, from time immemorial, were: To the hospital of St. John 
of Winchelsea. In the reign of Edw. I, John de Romeney, the attorney 
of the brothers' and sisters' hospital of St John of Winchelsea, received 
of Richard Randolf half a mark, of Richard Carleton 17s. 8d., of John 
de Beccles, and Benedict, his brother, 7s., for annual rents belonging to 
the same hospital. Total, 3l8. 6d." 

» Addl. MSS., No. 6344, p. 245. 



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154 MODERN WINCHELSEA. 

St. Bartholomew's was also situated in the thirty-ninth 
quarter, at the extreme south of the town, and close to the 
New Grate. Two acres of land at the annual rent of 6s. were 
assigned for it ; and, within the town, there was no more 
when the land was granted by Elizabeth to the mayor, jurats, 
and commonalty. The foundations may still be traced ; and 
until a few years since some of the walls were standing. 

The two last hospitals were for brothers and sisters, who 
were required to be members of the commonalty of the town. 
These two hospitals seem to have been united before the time 
of Philip and Mary: and they existed after the dissolution of 
the religious houses in the town. The mayor was visitor, and 
the mode of election is prescribed in the Customal, compiled 
in 1657 ; but they must have been dissolved soon afterwards, 
for when Elizabeth, in 1586, granted the toft, &c., they are 
described "as parcel of the dissolved Priory of St. Bartholo- 
mew," and as being then occupied by Francis Bolton. 

Wesleyan Chapel. — The Wesleyan Chapel, erected in 
1786, near the old church of St. Giles, is the only place of 
worship at Winchelsea, besides the established church. Mr. 
Wesley himself preached in this chapel ; and on 7th October, 
1790, he preached at Winchelsea his last sermon in the open 
air.^ The following is the entry in his journal : 

1 went over to that poor skeleton of Ancient Winchelsea. It is 
beautifully situated on the top of a steep hill, and was regularly built in 
broad streets, crossing each other, and encompassing a very large square, 
in the midst of which was a large church, now in ruins. 1 stood under a 
large tree on the side of it, and called to most of the inhabitants of the 
town : " The kingdom of heaven is at hand," repent, and beUeve the gospel. 
It seemed as if all that heard were, at the present, almost pursuaded to 
be Christians. 

The tree still stands on the west side of the church yard. 

^ In the Christian Miscellany for February, 1849, p. 33, there is an in- 
teresting notice of this sermon, from a record of the Rev. Robert Miller, 
who accompanied Mr. Wesley. Mr. Wesley dined with Mr. John 
Haddock, and preached at Rye that eyening, and at fife o'clock the next 
morning. 



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Modern wiNCHELStiA. 



165 



FAMILIES. 

Alard. — ^This family, which was of Saxon origin, was 
feetded in Sussex before the Conquest. The name, Adlard or 
Alard, is a corruption of the Saxon name of -ffithelwald. It 
is stated in Doomsday^ that jElaxd held Treverde (Treyford) 
of Earl Godwin : and Collins adds, that the "name flourished 
in Winchelsea^ jfrom the Conqueror's days. Their monuments 
in the (old) church inscribed with Saxon characters, are 
testimonies of their antiquity ; and their deeds sealed fairly 
with their arms, show their gentry." The chief seat of the 
family, was a place bearing their name, situate in the parish 
of Biddenden,* Kent; and they were also owners of the manor 
of Snergate,* Kent, which was anciently held of the manor of 
Aldrington by knight's service, at one quarter of a knight's 
fee. One of the family, who was an Abbot,^ and the anniver- 
sary of whose death is January 2nd, on which day is his 
festival, is a Venerable in the Koman Catholic church. 

The Kent branch of the family bore for their arms : 
"^-^ Ar, three bars gu, on a canton 
az, a leopard* s head, or. The 
Sussex branch bore the arms, 
emblazoned on the shield of the 
Knight in the monument.* 

In 12 Hen. II, (1166) Hilary, 
Bishop of Chichester, enume- 
rating the feoffinents of the 
knight's of his church, says,''^ 

that Robert de Beckham, Anketel, William son of Alard, 
and Wiard held one knight's fee : but the first direct evidence 
of the connection between this family and Winchelsea, is in 

> Hundred of Hamesford. * Collins* Peer., vol. 2, p. 302. 

3 Harris, p. 41, and Hasted, vol. 3, p. 64. There are memorials to the 
family in Biddenden church. 

* Hasted, vol. 3, p. 484. ^ Nicolas' Chronology of Hist, p. 126. 

• See ante, p. 134. ' Madox' Firma Burgi, vol. 1, p. 576. 



X 




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166 MODERN WiNCHfitSEA. 

1242, (26 Henry III) when William Alard of Winchelsea is 
described as owning the manor of Snergate, except Capenesse^ 
and the lastage of Winchelsea, together with the customs of 
the port.^ In the same reign, 38 Hen. Ill, (1253-4) we find 
a warrant* directing Robert de Cryoll, keeper of the Cinque 
Ports, to summon Gervase Alard (no doubt the son of William) 
and Alice the wife of Paulinus of Winchelsea, to answer the 
complaint of John Page and Petronilla his wife, in the Court 
of Shepway. In 1273, (2 Edw. I) we find that Eoger Alard 
was a merchant of the town j^ and we have already seen,* that 
when, in 1288, the new town was founded^ places were 
assigned to Gervase Alard, sen., and his sons Gervase and 
John ; to Beginald Alaxd, sen., and Reginald and John his 
sons ; to Colin Alard; to Nicholas Alard; to John and Justin 
Alard, brothers; to Thomas Alard; and to Henry son of John: 
and firom the quarters in which was their property, it is 
evident that they were among the principal merchants. The 
two sons of Gervase Alard, sen., were, however, the most 
distinguished members of the family. Gervase Alard, the 
son, in 21 Edw. I, (1292) became bail for Benjamin Seman, 
Benjamin Carite, and John de Pistons, of Winchelsea, who 
were charged with murder on board a Yarmouth vessel.^ In 
1294,he accompanied Edmund, the king's brother, to Gascony ; 
and he served in the wars in Flanders, Scotland, and Nor- 
mandy, for which he received as a reward^ only £4 firom the 
hand of Ralf, the cofferer, at the Eose in Galway, and a horse 
firom Edward Ifi In these wars he seems to have distinguished 
himself: for in 1803, (31 Edw. I) he was made''' captain and 
admiral of the Cinque Ports' fleet : and, in 1806, he was 
appointed captain and admiral of the Cinque Ports, from 

^ Inq. ad quod dampnum, 26 Hen. IH, m. 1. 

3 Cal. Rot Orig., vol. 1, p. 142. » Prynne's King John. 

* See ante, pp. 44 to 53. « Plac. de Pari., vol. 1, p. 98, a. 

*Ib. p. 174, a; where he petitioned for a further reward for his services. 

'Hot. Pat, m. 39. 



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MODERN WINCHELSEA* 157 

Dover, westward, including the coast of Cornwall.^ He was 
directed to proceed to Skymbumesse, there to lend aU aid 
against the Scotch rebels. He died soon afterwards, and 
according to Leland, "lyeth buried in Winchekea." His 
monument in the chantry, which bore the name of his family, 
and of which he was probably the founder, we have abready 
described. John Alard, his brother, was an eminent Brabant 
merchant.^ We have already seen, that during Edward the 
First's reign, other members of the family were bailiffs of the 
town and to Yarmouth, and masters and constables of ships. 

In the following reign, (1307) Henry Alaxd held lands of 
the king in Westham, called Yland, containing 36 acres, a 
salt marsh there, containing 400 acres, and the Honor of the 
Eagle.^ In 1318, Robert, son of John Alard of Winchekea, 
received a feoffinent from Robert le Mareshal of Westminster, 
of land in Pevensey, which, in Dec, 1322, he was directed to 
assign to the Abbot and Convent of Battle,* being at that 
time the attorney for the abbey, and as such he received land 
in Camberwell, and East Greenwiche and Lewisham.^ Ste- 
phen Alard, who seems to have been son of the admiral, was, 
in 1315, a commissioner for embanking the marshes of 
TiUingham and East Wytenham*:^ and 1324 he was appointed 
captain and admiral of the Cinque Ports and of the King's 
fleet of the western seas.''^ In the following year, Benedict 
Alard was bailiff to Yarmouth. 

In the days of Edward III, this family again commanded 
ships, and filled the office of bailiff: and in the various 
accounts relating to the town, we find many members of the 
family named. In January, 1341, James, son and heir of 
Gervase Alard of Winchelsea, enfeoffed land in St. Thomas', 
adjoining the messuage of Henry, the son of Richard Alard.® 

* Spelman's Glos., p. 16. ' See ante, p. 69. 

3 Inq. ad quod dampnum, 1 Edw. II, No. 100. *Batt Abb. Bee. 
« Inq. ad quod dampnum, 14 Edw. 11, No. 176. « Dugd. Imb., 9 Edw. IL 
'Rot. Pat, 18 Edw. II, pt. 1, m. 22. » Batt Abb. Rec. 

21 



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168 MiODERN WINCHELSEA. 

In the Non. Inq., (1341) we have seen^ the names of 
Robert and Stephen, sons of Stephen ; Robert Alard, who 
married Lucy de Wigsell, and she being his widow, re-married 
Jdhn Finch, and became the mother of John Finch, Lord 
Prior of Christ's Church, Canterbury ;^ Alan Alard ; and 
Reginald Alard, the latter of whom died in 1354, seized of 
20 acres of land and Farlegh, held of the manor of French 
Court f and the slab, containing the inscription to his memory, 
yet remains in the church. In the Bailiffs' Roll^ of 16 and 
17 Edw. Ill, (1343) are the names of Richard Alard and 
John Alard : and the roll, 40 Edw. Ill, (1366) records the 
names of Robert Alard; John Alard; Roger Alard; Reginald 
Alaxd ; Richard Alard ; Nicholas Alard, whose daughter Pax- 
nel married Henry Herbert, otherwise Finch; Justin Alaxd; 
Stephen Alard ; and Gervase Alard. In the following year, 
41 Edw. Ill, Agnes, the wife of the latter, died seized of the 
manor of Snergate.^ He was grandson of the admiral, and seems 
to have died without male issue ; for Leland, speaking of the 
admiral, says,^ "Oxenbridge of Southsex is heire by descent 
to this Alarde, and bearith his armes." The estate in Bid- 
denden, however, remained in the Alard family till the reign 
of Charles I, when Francis Alard died, leaving an only 
daughter Elizabeth, who, marrying Terry Aldersey, carried 
the estate into his family.'' 

In 1423, (Dec. 17) there was an assize of novel deseizin 
between the Abbot of Battle and Gervase Alard, concerning 
a free tenement in GuestHng.® 

In 1428, 1429, 1436, and 1444, WiUiam Alard was mem- 
ber for the town,^ and resided here -P and John and William 
Alard were non-resident freemen of Winchelsea, living at 

1 Ante p. 87. 2 CoUins' Peer, ed. 1779, vol. 3, p. 370. 

3 Cal.- Inq., p. m., 28 Edw. HI, vol. 2, p. 192. * Caxlt. Ride MSS. 
5 Inq., p. m., 42 Edw. Ill, No. 1. « Itin., fol. 53. 

■^ Hasted, vol. 3, p. 64. s Batt. Abb. Rec. 

» See list of members, post. 10 gge ante, p. 11^. 



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MODERN WINCHELSEA. 



159 



Pelsham,! 23 Hen. VI, (1445:) but soon afterwards the 
connection of the family with this town seems to have 
ceased, though they still resided in Sussex. The will of 
Thomas Alard, who married the heiress of John Bourne of 
Aldingden, in Sandhurst, Kent,^ was (1491-2) proved in the 
Prerogative Court next after the will of Elizabeth, Queen of 
England; they were also resident and acted as bailiffs of 
Pevensey ; and from the Battle Abbey Records it appears 
that Henry Alard was bailiff of their manor of Wye and the 
liberties of Battle, from 1498 to 1606. 

The family is not extinct, but yet exists in Kent. 
The Herberts or Finches were also merchants of im- 
portance at the founding of New Winchelsea, (1288 :) in 

which Vincent Herberd^ had 
places assigned to him in the 
9th and 37th quarters. We 
have not space to enter into the 
claim of the Finches to the des- 
cent from Fitz Herbert, the Lord 
Chamberlain, through Herbert, 
son of Matthew, a yoimger son 
of the Chamberlain.* Matthew 
was summoned to parliament, 
1234, (Selden's T. H. 722,) and 
killed at Margam, 1245. (Math. 
Paris, p. 590.) Collins has a 
strange blunder : he makes 
Herbert, son of Herbert, under 

age in 1300, to be the grandson of Matthew, although he 
never bore the name of Finch. The intervention of a gencr 
ration gets rid of this difficulty. We have seen (ante, p. 59) 




1 Carlt. Ride MSS. 
3 See ante, pp. 46, 52. 
smtten Herbert. 
* See Gent. Mag., vol. 67, p. 648 



* Hasted, vol 3, p. 15. 
In another copy of the same MS. the name i? 



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160 MODERN WINCHELSEA. 

that Vincent Herberd was the name at Winchelsea in 1306 ; ' 
ancL the evidence furnished by the MSS. relating to this town 
seem to add weight to the Finches' claim to the name of 
Herbert, if not to the descent. The assumed name of Finch, 
as connected with Winchelsea, does not appear before the 
time of Edward III. The name of Herberd or Herbert, 
alone occurs imtil 16 Edw. Ill; in 1342 John Fitz- 
Henry Finch* was bailiff to Yarmouth; and in 1855 we 
find Vincent Finch bound in £40 to Robert Arnold and 
others.^ In the following year he was bailiff of the town r^ 
and in 1358 bailiff to Yarmouth. Leland says,* ^^the 
name of Finches hath beene of auncient tyme in estimation 
in Southsax, about Winchelsey, and be al likelyhood rose by 
some notable marchaimte of Winchelsey : for it is written 
that Alarde and Finche Herberte were capitaines at the batel 
of Trade,* and that Finche was sore wounded there. The 
Finches that be now say that theire propre name is Hereberte, 
and that with mariage of the Finche heyre, they tooke Finche's 
name, and were caulled Finch-Herbert, joining booth names.'* 
The Finches seem to have been, indeed, "sore wounded," for 
Henry Herbert, alias Finch,— who, in 15th Edw. Ill, (1341) 
held a knight's fee in the rape of Hastings worth 100s., being 
lands in Ewhurst, MorehaU, Whatlington, Sedlescombe, 
Salehurst, and Buxle, under John Duke of Brittany,^ and 
acquired the lands formerly of the De Denes,''^ in Icklesham, 
through the^ heiress of Nicholas Heringod and Sybella his 
wife, (herself the heiress of the De Denes,) — ^married for his 

1 See ante, p; 119. « Bering MSS. 

3 See ante, p. 115. * Itin. 6, p. 57. 

^ Pennant, in his Tour, (vol. 2, p. 27) mistakes this expression, and as- 
suming it not to be a metaphor, says, " does he mean the battle of * 
Terrocene in 1522 ?" The context (as Mr. Bolton Comey points out) 
means that the two families were rival merchants. 

^ Inq., p. m., No. 43. 

' The Denes claim to have been Cup Bearers to Edward the Confessor. 
They were the founders of Otham and Bayham Abbeys. 



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MODERN WINCHELSEA. 161 

Becond wife, Pamel, daughter of Nicholas Alaxd, and ob. 8th 
Bdch. II ; whilst John, the brother of Henry, married the 
widow of Robert Alard. Vincent Finch was a commissioner 
of embankments in 1393-4 ; he served the office of mayor 
in 1400 ; he was M.P. in 1396, 1397, 1402, and 1419 ; and 
to him and his wife Isabella the convent of the Gray Friars, 
granted, in 1413, the prayers and masses, as being their spe- 
cial benefactors.^ William Finch was member for the town 
in 1432. Other members of the family^ represented the 
town at different periods until 1642, when Sir John Finch, 
then M.P., died.^ On 12th July, 1628, Elizabeth, daughter 
and heir of Sir Thomas Heneage, Bint., widow of Sir Moyle 
Finch, and Viscountess Maidstone, was advanced' to the 
title of Countess of Winchelsea. 

The Finches bear for their arms : Ar. a chev. betw, three 
griffins pdsaanty sa.; and for a crest, A griffin passant, wings 
endorsed, sa. 

Henry Fynch, who died 1493, is buried in the south chancel 
of Icklesham church : his plain altar tomb of Sussex marble, 
remained till the alterations made in 1849, when it was re- 
moved ; although he had been a benefactor to the repairs of 
the church, and had caused an altar to be built in the chapel 
of St. Nicholas at his expense. 

Miss Strickland has thrown an air of romance upon the 
life of Mary Finch, daughter of Sir William. In her youth, 

1 Bering MSS., and ante p. 146. 

^ We had hoped to have been able to give some unpublished particulars 
of this family ; but the Key. Heneage Finch of Oakham, informs us that 
few, if any, of the early documents of the family descended with the title 
to the second branch, and of those few the late Earl of Winchelsea, not 
long before his death, burnt, with the more modem papers, as many as 
would have filled a chariot, and under circtmistances which forbad Mr. 
Heneage Finch's attempting to rescue them, although he was present. It 
is possible that there may be some papers among the archives at Longleat, 
carried there by an heiress; from some of whom, as well as from dowagers, 
the family have sustained great ravages. 

8 Joum. of Ho. of Com., vol. 2, p. 967. 



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162 MODERN WINCHELSEA. 

(accompanied by her father and mother) she was in attendance 
on Caftherine of Aragon at the Field of the Cloth of Gold. 
Queen Mary seems to have relied on her in her difficult suc- 
cession to the throne. She rode with her to Cambridge, to 
the Huddlestones, and to Framlingham ; was her mistress of 
the robes; and appears on all occasions up to the time of the 
Spanish marriage : not approving that, she retired, and her 
name never appears again : nor is it in the list of ladies to 
be rewarded with jewels for supporting Philip's views. 

Strype (Annals of Reform., c. S2, pp. 330-1) relates the 
following disastrous death of Sir Thomas Finch, near Win- 
chelsea. " 1563, March 29, A lamentable chance happened 
to Sir Thomas Finch, being appointed to the Marshal of 
Newhaven, (in France) in the place of Sir Adrian Poynings ; 
taking ship at Rye with thirty gentlemen, whereof two were 
brethren to the Lord Wentworth, and some others of his 
name, were lost with the ship beside ye Camber, coming 
(driven to return upon foul weather) before y© tide was fiill 
to serve him. The loss was esteemed great, and he as much 
lamented as any man of his degree in any part of England." 

The Oxenbridges were not originally a Winchelsea 
family. They resided at a place bearing their name in Iden. 
The first mention of their name occurs in 1329, when John 
de Oxenbridge was a juror on the inquisition between Simon 
de Echingham and John de la Beche ;^ but they do not seem 
to have been of importance till 1393, when Robert Oxenbridge 
was a commissioner of embankments for Farlegh, &c. Having 
married an heiress of the Alards, they assumed the arms of 
that family, and settled in Brede, at a place formerly belonging 
to the Atte Foards, called after them Foard Place, but more 
recently named Brede Place. From 1329 to 1581 they occu- 
pied an important position in the coimty, and built the chancel 
of Brede church, over which they had exclusive rights ; but 

1 Hall's Echingham, p. 11. 



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MbDERN WINCHELSEA. 163 

they do not appear to have taken any prominent part in 
Winchelsea affairs. They were, however, freemen of the 
town to escape contribution to the subsidies. 

The Londeneys were in the eighteenth quarter of the new 
town at its settlement in 1^88.^ When Edward III conferred 
the right of returning members to parliament upon the town, 
Robert Londeneys was one of the first returned ; and he was 
re-elected in 1373. The family remained in Winchelsea 
until about 1400, when the head of the family married an 
heiress of the Oxenbridges, and removed the chief residence 
to Brede. We have already referred to them and given a cut 
of their seal.^ They bore for their arms : Gu. a lion rampant, 
ar, within a hordure, erm. : and their pedigree is in the Visi- 
tation of 1634, p. 321. 

The Godfreys were also among the families, who existed 
in the old town, and to whom places were assigned at the 
settling of the new town : where we find Juliana, the relict of 
Alan Godfrey; Thomas Godfrey, and Jacob his son; Richard 
Godfrey ; and John Godfrey. In 3 Edw. II, (1309) Godfrey 
the son of Alan Godfrey, of this town, released to his brother 
Theobald, in Wales, his land and all his right and services 
belonging to the manor of Sieltelond.^ The family flourished 
in Winchelsea, and also at Lydd; where a branch settled, and 
were many times mayors. From the year 1300 till 1313, 
Robert Go'defray represented Horsham. In 1332, John God- 
frey was member for that town : 9nd in 1441 and 1448, 
another John Godfrey was M.P. for Winchelsea. In 23 
Hen. VI, he was among the non-resident freemen, living at 
Ore.* And on 27th Nov., 1477, he obtained a license to 
found the chantry in St. Thomas' church.^ He seems to have 
died before his good intentions were perfected; and they 
were, as we have seen,^ fully carried out by his daughter and 
and heiress, Matilda, widow of Simon Famcombe. From his 

1 See ante, p. 48. » See ante, p. 39. ^ Cal. Rot. Orig., vol. 1, p. 108. 
* Carlt. Ride MSS. « Batt. Abb. Rec, p. 121. « Ante, p. 131. 



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164. MODERN WINCHELSEA. 

deathi until the year 1609, no branch of the Godfreys appeatis 
to have resided in Winchelsea; but in that year, Thomas 
Godfrey, the father of Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey, whose 
assassination in 1678, caused a great sensation,^ came to reside 
in the town. During his residence here, he kept a diary and 
an account of his expenses, (preserved in the Lansd. MSS., 
No. 235) in which he gives some curious particulars of the 
town, and of the price of provisions at that period. 

By reason of my marriage on Assention Day, being y« 5th of May, 
1609, in St. Catherine's by the Tower, with Margarett, the sole daughter 
of Wm. Lambard of Qreenewich, Esq'., one of the Masters of the Chancery, 
I retired myselfe into the country and lay for one yeare at sojoume w^ 
Mr. Robt Boteler of Winchelsea, in the county of Sussex, gent, in whose 
house my first child, being a son, was borne in anno, 1609, March y« 29th, 
being Munday, betweene 4 and 5 in the aftemoone, and was christnd the 
the ninth of Aprill, being Palm Sunday, in y« forenoone ; the witnesses 
were my wife's brother, Sr. Multon Lambard, Knt., and my father, and 
my mother, and my brother Peter's wife : he was named Lambard, after 
Sr. Multon's simame. Memdm., that my son was nursed by Mr. Boteler's 
son's wife, in the Camber Castle. My father sent 3 of us his sons succes'^ 
sively to St. John's in Cambridge, where we were all of us Fellow 
Comoners^ we gave a white silver pott to ye College, of about a 12 pound 
price, our arms engraved upon it, with this Enigma : " Petrus, Thomas, 
et Eichardus Godfrey, cujus Colegii allumni, oreundi De Lidd in agro 
Cantiano, quorum pater est Tho. Godfrey, armigr., cui horum alter vter 
est primo genitus." I came from Mr. Boteler's to housekeeping, in a house 
that I took of Mr. Eaynold's in Winchellsea, who had it in right of his 
wife, who was Mr. Thomas Egliston's widdow, the 29th of January, 1609. 
Wm. Bing, Capt. of Deale Castle, who was also formerly my bedfellow in 
my Lord Privie Seal's house, and myself, was chosen burgess' by the 
town of Winchellsea, for ye parliament begun to be held at Westminster, 
&^ ApriUis, 1614, and 12 of Jacobus. The which Parliamt. was desolv'd 
and nothing done, and concluded to be no sessions. My second child, 
being a son also, was borne the 4th of Octor., being Thursday, in anno, 
1610, between the hours of 1 and 2 in the night, and was christnd the 
10th of the same month : his godfathers were Mr. John Egliston, gent, 

1 For very interesting particulars see Gent Mag. for Nov. 1848, and 
March, 1849 ; and Nichols' Topographer. 



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MODERN WINt;HELSEA. 



165 



one of the jurats of the town,^ and Mr. Thos. Lsted, gent, common clerk of 
the same town, who gave him his name : his godmothers, Mrs. Mary 
Glynton^ (one of the daughters of Sr. Tho. Clynton, second son to y« Erie 
of Lincoln, that was Lord Admirall,]^ his other godm'. was my sister Eliz. 
This son departed this life y« 8th of FehJ. following, 1610, and lieth 
buried in y« south isle of the church of St. Thomas, at y« upper end of 
y« isle, just under the great window oi y» east end. My most loveing wife, 
Margaret Lambard, departed this life in a most comfortable manner ; her 
last words being these : (viz.,) My soul is in heaven with the angells; and 
soe most patiently gave up the ghost between 2-3 and 8-4 of the clock in 
the morning on a Saturday, being St Peter*s Day, the 29th of June, 1611, 
after that we had been married three years and almost two months, and 
was buried close by hdr son Thomas, the 4th of July, in y« south isle of 
the church of St Thomas in Winchellsea, under the great window of y« 
east end of ye isle.^ I had taken a house at Canterbury, without St 
Qeorge his gate, whither my first wile and I intended to have removed 
from Winchellsea, but all things being ready for our departure, it pleased 
Qod to take my said wife away, so that I put that house away. And 
having married again he took another house at Hailing, Kent 

There are sereral items in Mr. Godfrey's expenditure which 
are worth preserving, fixr the prices of food, clothing, and 
labour. 



IficAof ., 1608, to Miehaa., 
£ 

To a pilHon and furniture 
It ye outside of a suite 

for me - - 4 

' My ^dfe at the faire - 

The nurse - - 

My freedom - 
For 72 rods of ditch, 

at 8d. the rod - 

Washing my sheeji - 
The use of the tufne 

and pound - 
Shearing at 12d. the 

score - - 



609 
50 





2 

40 



40 





xii 



48 
2 






1 





8 


8 



£ «. d. 








it To the winders and 

helpers 
Mendmg my bowe - 
Three loads of broome 

faegotts 
One load of charcole 
Or. at the Rye Ferry, 

from our Lady-day 

to Midsummer - 2 
To Mr. Evans for a 

vomitt 
Pd.my Cosn. Wyinond 

for 6 load oi loggs, 

and 6 load of fag- 

gotts^at 8s. per load 



II 
24 



8 



3 12 



I ^ Thd £gglestoiies or Ecclestones of this town, bore for their arms, 
Ar. a ero9$ ga* in the first qviairter a fieur^de-lis gu*, the same as the arms 
of the Ecclestones of Ecdestone, county of Lancaster. A short pedigree 
is in the Harl. MSS., Vis. Suss. 1562. Thomas Eccleston was M.P. for 
Winchelsea in 1586. 

* See inscription, ante p. 137. 



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166 



MODEKN WIMCIIEL8EA. 





£ 


«. 


d. 




£ 


«. 


d. 


It Pd. the collectors for 








It For a handsaw 





1 


6 


the poore of Win- 








For a cleaver - 





1 


4 


chelsea, for half a 








An ax - 





1 


4 


yeare - 





3 


4 


One tonn of timber - 





9 





To Robin for 9 ells of 








A quart of sack 





1 





Holland 


22 





Two ounces of lace - 





6 





To James Appleton 
for 36 ells of coarse 








For 241b. of butter - 


12 


a 








The mason and his 








canvas 


42 





boy for a day 
One bushell of salt - 





18 


Pd. Mr. Whitton, July 











18 


29th, for 4 acres of 








A qr. of veale 





2 


6 


gra88,at238.4d.the 








A legg of veale 
Pr. of gloves - 





1 





acre, and two over 


4 


15 








3 





Pd. for carrying of 5 
loads and an naif of 








Two cloakes - 
Anhatt 


3 13 
12 


4 



hay - - - 





6 


6 


Ooeing to the play (he 








Shoeing my horse - 








8 


was in London) - 
Boetius in English - 





1 


6 


For 1 great glass bot- 














12 


tle and 1 small, of 








Twochees 








14 


Mr. Reynolds 








8 


For mowing two acres 








Aug. ye 8th, bought of 
Mr. Evans, 1 white 








of grass 





5 











A seam of wheat of 9 








salt and 1 white 








gall, measure, at 
3s. 3d. pr. bushell 








beaker, (glass) wey- 








28 


8 


in^ 21 oz. 1 drachm 
Gassmg the kitchen 





5 


11 


Lost at bowles 





4 


Q 





2 


8 


21bs. of cherries 








8 


A pint of wine 








6 


For a cow 


3 


6 


8 


A pair of kersey hose 





4 


6 


One dozen of glass 








Miehoi., 1609, to Miehoi, 


f 




plats 





2 


6 


1610. 








For 5 Welch runts. 








A cess for the bell - 


20 





Uherst faire, at 4 








The Clarke's quarter- 








marke a bullock 


13 


6 


8 


ages - 








6 


The players 





18 





For 1 pr. of bootes, 








Three bushells of oats 





3 





4 pr. of shoes 
For 4 Venis glasses - 





16 





Agallon of barberryes 





10 





2 


6 


For 6 chicken 


a 





18 


For tsleving 60 rails 
















and 6 posts 





2 














The bowling green, where Mr. Godfrey lost his money, had 
been established at Cook's Green, and was continued till the 
close of the last century. The new bell, for which a cess was 
made in 1610, yet remains. 

The Godfreys bore for their arms : Sa. a chet. bet. three 
pelican's heads, erased, and vulning themselves^ or.: crest ; A 
demt-negro, ppr. holding in the dexter hand a cross crosslet, 
jitcUe, ar. The pedigree is in Berry's Kentish Geneal., p. 
146. 



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MODERN WINCHBLSEA. 167 

The Farncombes axe a Saxon family, taking their name 
from Vamcombe, an estate in the parish of Patcham, Sussex. 
In the 15th Edw. Ill, Henry de Famcombe of Blatchington, 
made the return of the ninth sheaf, &c., for that parish.^ 
In 1402, Roger Famcomb was M.P. for Shoreham : and in 
the same century (1456) Simon de Famcombe was a merchant 
in Winchekea,* and his widow, the heiress of John Godfrey, 
endowed the Famcombe chantry. 

The family have continued to occupy the station of yeomen 
in. the coimty. At the election in 1705, William Famcomb 
of Heathfield, Joseph Famcomb of Patcham, and Richard 
Famcomb of Bexhill, voted as freeholders : and in the present 
year, 1850, Alderman Thomas Farncomb, who was bom at 
Hollington, and who was, in early life, a banker at Hastings, 
is Lord Mayor of London ; bearing for his arms : Verty on 
a checeron engrailed between three cinque-foile, or. as many 
gryphorCs heads ^ erasedy sable: and for his crest, A cockatrice^ s 
head couped sable, combed and wattiedy or. between two wings 
of the first y each charged with a dnque-foil of the second : 
motto ; Leges (wjura servare. 

A large majority of the other families, to whom places were 
assigned at the foundation of New Winchelsea, cannot now 
be traced, and the names of many have become extinct. 
Some, however, such as the Austins, the Colyns, the Coopers, 
the Dawes, the Martins, and the Mots, have remained in con- 
nection with the town down to a recent period ; whilst others, 
such as the Beneyts, the Campions, the Crouches, the Lambs, 
the Melewards, the Popes, the Pennifathers, and the Wytings, 
are still to be found in the neighbouring towns and parishes 
of Sussex and Kent. 



1 Non. Inq. » gge ante, pp. 99 and 131. 



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168 



MODSBN WmfOWEJSSJL. 



MANOR OF HIGHAM, AND CASTLE AND 
HAVEN OF CAMBER. 

HiGHAM. — The manor of Higham^ which was obtsdned by 
£dw. I from Wm. de Grandison and Isabella his wife^ ex- 
tends into the several parishes of St. Thomas, Winchelsea, on 
both sides of the modem harbour of Rye, St. Leonard, 
Winchelsea, and into parts of Icklesham, of Broomhill, and 
Pett. It is intimatdy mixed up with the history and pros- 
perity of Wmch^ea. The kings usually held it in their 
own hands ; and the King's baili£& of the manor of Higham 
were bailiffi of Winchelsea, and generally of Rye. TJie 
manor and the royal dues of the town of Winchelsea were, 
however, granted by £dw. I, as part of her appanage, to his 
wife iUeanor.^ Edw. II granted them to his Queen Isabella 
for her life.* And, in 4th Edw. Ill, there were granted (inter 
alia) to Bartholomew de Burghersh, Lord Warden of the 
Cinque Ports, for his life,' the marsh of Iham and the town 

of Winchelsea, worth in thef 
whole, £95 a year, for the 
maintenance of a chaplain, of the 
watch, and of a carpenter in the 
castle of Dover. In the reign 
of Henry VII, however, the 
king's property was alienated 
from the Crown to Sir Richard 
GuLDEFORD, Knt., who was one 
of the Chamberlains of the Ex- 
chequer, Master of the Ordnance 
and of the Armory, Keeper of the 
King's Manor of Kennington,* 
and one of the King's Coun- 
sellors. 




^ Bliss in Blore's Monuments. 
»Ib. 



2 Cal. Rot. Orig., vol. 2, p. 36. 
* Rot Pari., vol. 6, p. 354 b. 



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MODBRN WXNCHEIilEA. 169 

By l^tteis patent, 6di Oct., 2 Hen. VII, (1486) and 17th 
Jan., &i Hen. VII, the grant ^ was made to Sir Bichard 
Gmld^ord, Knt., and the heirs male of his body law&liy 
begotten, of the lordship or manor of Higham; and also 
the office of bailiff of the town of Kew Winchelsea, of 
which town the ground and area were anciently parcel of the 
aforesaid lordship and manor of Higham, otherwise Iham ; 
and the rents of assize of all and singular free tenants and 
bondmen, residei^ and non-residents ; and with the custom 
oi ships and fishing boats, called shares; and with the 
cuatom of dir^rs merchandizes, as well arriving by water as 
brought by land ; and also the custom of wood for tanning, 
corn, &c.; and also lastage, stallage, &c.; and also fines, for- 
feitures, and amerciaments of bakers, maltsters, and other 
Tictualiers whatsoever ; and for trespasses against the peace ; 
and the daiattels of £dlons, &c.; waifs, straysj and all fees, &c., 
to the office oi bail^ bdonging ; also the creek called the 
Camber, otherwise Wenway; and all those marshes, £resh 
and sait, and lands, &c., called the Camber Marsh, and the 
Camber Sahs, and the Camber Seach, and the Camber and 
Wwway Sands ; and the creek, called the Puddle ; and the 
adyowsons and free dispositions of the churches of St. Thomas 
and St. Giles ; and also all and singular messuages, nulls, &c., 
with all the rights, members, and appurtenances to the lord- 
ship or manor, office of bailiff, messuages, &c., belonging. 

On 10th April, 1610, (8th James) in consideration of £@0, 
Sir Henry Ghildeford, Knt., and his heirs male, had a grant ^ 
of the same estates, to hold in as ample a manner as Sir 
Bidiard Guldeford, deceased, had held them, yielding yearly 
a fee farm rent of £20 to Queen Anne for her life, and after 
her death into the public Exchequer. The Gxddeford family 
had their principal seat at Hempstead, in Kent. They bore 
£9r their arms :^ Or. a saltier, between four mortify $0. 

^ HoUo way's Homney Marsh, p. 154, where there is a full description of 
the lands, &c., granted. 
2 Charter, Penes W. D. C. » See wood cut, ante'p. 168. 



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170 



MODERN WINCHELSEA. 



Their pedigree is to be found in the Harl. MSS., 6607, p. 260. 
On the 8th January, 1662, (13 Charles II) Edward Guide- 
ford, Esq., obtained a grant of these estates to himself and his 
heirs and assigns, without the limitation to his heirs male, to 
hold as of the manor of East Greenwich in free and common 
soccage, and not in chief, at a fee farm rent of £20.^ And 
in 1663, he sold the whole, with the exception of Camber farm,^ 
to John Carryll of Harting, who bore for his arms : Ar. 

three bars sa. in chief as 
many martlets of the last : 
and for a crest. On a mount 
vert, a stag, lodged, refftiard- 
anty ar. His grandson, John 
Caryll, sold and spent all his 
property. In 1762,he joined 
with his mortgagees in selling 
this Higham and Winchel- 
sea estate, including the 
office of the bailiff, the pa- 
tronage of the churches, &c., 
to Charles O'Brien Earl of 
Egremont: and, in 1787, 
his son, George O'Brien 





^ This fee farm rent is now the property of the Hon. — Herbert, and is 
paid in the proportions following : Mr. William Longley, Camber farm, 
£6 12s.; Rev. T. S. Curteis £2 ISs.; Mrs. Curteis (late) £1 10s.; the 
same £3 8s. 4d.; devisees of the late Mr. William Croughton £2 4s.; 
Mrs. Curteis, Mr. John Stonham, Mr. Mortimer, and Mr. Thomas Mills, 
£3 7s. 8d. Total £20. Holloway!s Romney Marsh, 162. 

^ Among the private acts of 10th Anne, 1711-2, No. 15, is an act for the 
sale of the manor of Hempstead and other lands in the counties of Kent 
and Sussex, the estate of Sir Robert Guldeford, Bart., for the payment 
of debts, and for settling Camber farm and other lands in the county 
of Sussex, to the same uses as Hempstead manor then stood settled. 
Camber farm was subsequently alienated, and is now the property of Mr. 
William Longley. 



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Modern winchelsea. 



171 



Eaxl of Egremont, exchanged them for the manor of Wig- 

gonholt with Sir William 
AsHBURNHAM, Baxt., then 
Bishop of Chichester, whose 
family property was at 
Broomham, in Guestling. 
The Ashbumham estates in 
Winchelsea have been since 
sold to various persons. 
The manor of Higham, with 
all its rights and royalties, 
together with the Castle of 
Camber, the office of Bailiff 
of the town, the Kings rent's 
there, the town hall, &c., was 
purchased in 1834 by the 




Sifi^. 



late Herbert Barrett Curteis, Esq., and is now the 
property of his only son, Herbert Mascall Curteis, Esq. 

They bear for their arms: 
Ar. a chev. sa, hetw. three 
hulls heads y cdbossedy gu,: 
and for their crest, A uni- 
com, passant, or. betw, four 
trees proper. 

A new church in the early 
English style was built in 
1848-9, in that part of the 
manor of Higham and parish 
of Icklesham, which lies on 
the west side of the mouth 
of Rye harbour. The ar- 
chitect was Mr. Samuel S. 
Teulon.i 

* Under his direction the chancels of the old church at Icklesham have 
been restored, and two new eastern windows put in. 




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172 MODERN WINCfiSLSEA. 

Bounds of Camber Beach and Salts. — ^The bounds of 
the Camber beach and salts were fully ascertained in 1590^ 
under a royal commission issued to "Sir Thomas Pelham and 
others^ and are folly set forth in an exemplification made 4th 
July, 1666, (18 Charles II) after the sale to Mr. Carryll.i It 
recites a certain record befere the Barons of the Exchequer of 
the 39th Queen Elizabeth : vizt.. Among the records of Easter 
Term, roll the first, on the part of the remembrancer and 
treasurer, being a commission dated 30th June, 38 Elizabeth, 
to Thomas Felham, James Thetcher, George Chewte,- Edward 
Felham, Henry Cupcsley, and Edward Henden, Esqrs., or any 
five, four, three, or two, to look over and perambulate a certain 
great quantity of salt marsh and lands called the Camber 
Beach and Camber Salts; and to enquire as to the quantity and 
number of acres, and of the ancient metes, limits, and boimds, 
and within what liberties, parishes, and manors lying; and by 
sufficient metes, limits, and bounds, to separate and divide 
from all other manors, &c., lying contiguous ; and to make a 
plot or map. It then goes on to give the return of Thomas 
Pelham, James Thetcher, and Edward Felham, three of the 
commissioners, with the following inquisition, and a plot or 
map to the same annexed. 

Sussex. An inquisitton indented, taken at Rye, in the county afore- 
said, the 23rd day of September, in the 38th year of the reign of our 
Lady Elizabeth, by the grace of God, Queen of England, France, and 
Ireland, defender of the faith, &c., before Thomas Pelham, James Thetcher, 
and Edward Pelhun, Esqrs., commissioners of the said Queen, by virtue of 
a certain commission of tile sead Queen, issued out of her Court of Exche- 
quer, and to them and others from thence directed, and to this inquisition 
annexed, by the oaths of Richard Portriffe, Thomas Fisher, John Fisher, 
William Mellowe, John Benbricke, Edward Seringe, John Robinson, 
John Osborne, John Dowce, William Sharpe, Thomas Young, John 
Allen, Thomas Shether otherwise Stace, Richard Fjfibody, Richard 
Sheath'er otherwise Stace, Francis lordan, William Davye, CAuristopher 
Edwajrds, Thomas Bennlett, Thomas Harwood, John Holman, I^holas 

1 Pat. Penes Mr. E. N. Dawes. 



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MODERN WINCHELSEA. 173 

White, Richard Gossepp, and Henry "Walter, who, upon their oaths, say 
that the marsh and lands in the said commission specified, called the 
Camber Beach and Camber Salts, contain in the whole, 1,368 acres, of 
which 135 acres only are enclosed within a certain wall there, among 
other lands, now or late in the occupation of one Thomas Godfrey. And 
that the said marsh and lands, called the Camber Beach and Camber Salts, 
in the said commission specified likewise, lie near and abut on a certain 
place called the Camber Head, by the sea shore on the east, towards Lydd, 
bordering upon Bowclifie, otherwise Beach Cliffe; and from thence 
beyond the said marsh or lands below the aforesaid wall, in a straight 
line northward as far as a certain creek or river called Camber Haven, 
otherwise Wayne Way Water, towards a certain limit or boundary hun- 
dred of Goldspurr, called Kent Dike ; and from thence abutting by the 
aforesaid creek or river, called Camber Haven, otherwise Wayne Way 
Water, as far as to the Cambef Head aforesaid ; and also that the said 
marsh and lands called Camber Beach and Camber Salts so abutting as 
aforesaid, lie between the high sea, called the Main Sea, on parts of the 
south and west ; and lands called Bates Lands, and lands now of Richard 
Smith, Esquire, on the part of the east ; and the aforesaid river or creek 
called the Camber Haven, otherwise Waine Way Water, on the part of 
the west ; which limits and bounds aforesaid are the ancient limits and 
bounds of the marsh and lands aforesaid, called Camber Beach and Cam- 
ber Salts. And that the said marsh and lands called Camber Beach and 
Camber Salts, are and, from time whereof the memory of man is not to 
the contrary, have been parts and parcels of the manor of Igham, otherwise 
Heigham, in the county of Sussex aforesaid, and for all the time aforesaid 
have been and did lie, and as yet are and do lie, within the liberties of 
the town of Winchelsea, one of the ancient Cinque Port towns of the 
lady the Queen, and within the parish of Saint Thomas the Apostle, in 
Winchelsea aforesaid. And they further say, that for the separation and 
division of the aforesaid marsh and lands, called the Camber Beach and 
Camber Salts, from all other manors, lands, and tenements lying conti- 
guous thereto, they have placed two posts of wood in the same lands on 
the day of taking this inquisition, vizt, one near the sea shore, not far off 
(in English, a little too short) from the view of Bowcliffe, and the other 
on a part of the river or creek aforesaid, called Camber Haven, otherwise 
Waine Way Water, towards the aforesaid boundary hundred of Goldspurr, 
called Kent Dike. And they further say, that the print or description 
(in English, the map or plot) to this inquisition annexed, is a true and 
perfect print (in English, a plot or map) of the same marsh and lands, 
called Camber Beach and Camber Head. In testimony whereof to both 

23 



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174 MODERN WINCHELSEA. 

parts of this inquisition, as well to the aforesaid commission as to the 
inquisition aforesaid, they have affixed their seals on the day and year, 
and at the place abovesaid. The exemplification is stated to be at the 
instance and request of the mayor and commonalty of the town of Win- 
chelsea, one of the ancient Cinque Port towns. 

The beach has continued to increase ; and the accumulation 
of land has been much facilitated by planting the grass 
named Ammophila Arundtnacea, sea reed, marum or mat- 
weed. It was brought from Holland by Mr. Sotherden, when 
tenant of Camber farm, and planted on the east side of the 
harbour. In Holland, as well as in Norfolk, Cleveland in 
Yorkshire, Durham, Cheshire, and other places in England, 
it is extensively employed in forming the banks of sand, 
which preserve the land against the encroachments of the 
sea. This it does by means of its extensively creeping roots, 
which meet together and spread far and wide. The seeds 
drop into the sand, whidi gathers round the roots, vegetate 
and collect more sand until banks are formed. It only grows 
in the very driest sandy soils. - It is common as far north as 
Orkney, and is found as far south as the Mediterranean. 

Castle. — ^Winchelsea or Camber Castle is in that part of 
the manor of Higham, which is in the parish of Icklesham. 




The castle stands in the marshes, on a peninsula, about two 
miles north-east of the town. We give a view as it existed in 
1737. Its main walls are entire : many of them are brick, 
cased with square stone. It has one large tower, which serves 
for the keep, surrounded by a number of smaller ones of 
nearly the same figure, connected by short curtains. 



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m 


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UJ 




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CQ 


^ 


CO 


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m 


UJ 




•sa 


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•MODERX WINCHELSEA. 175 

These buildings clearly evidence the very low and imperfect 
state of military architecture in this kingdom in the time of 
Henry VIII, for of all others, round towers were the least capa- 
ble of actual defence. Hound about the large tower or keep, 
there was a very low battery or place with chinks for firing 
out of, so low as now to be below the surface, though it is 
shewn in the engraving of 1737. On the moulding round 
the keep, are some devices, particularly the cross and rose '} 
and there are several specimens of the Tudor badge of the 
rose and crown. 

This castle was built by Henry VIII, in 1638 or 1639, to 
defend the coast against invasion, on the ruins, according to 
Grose, of a more ancient building. It cost £23,000. 

The history of the building of the several castles on the 
coasts of England and Wales by Henry VIII, is thus quaintly 
given by Hall in his Chronicle, (p. 828 :) 

The Kynges highnes, whiche never ceased to stody and take payne^ 
both for the avauncement of the common wealth of this his realme of 
England) of the which he was the only supreme goyernour and hed ; 
and also for the defence of al the same, was lately enfourmed by his 
trustie and faithfull frendes, that the cankerd and cruel serpent, the 
Bishop of Rome, by that arche traitor Beignqld Poole, enemie to Godes 
worde and his natural contrey, had moved and stirred diverse great 
princes and potentates of Christendome to invade the realme of England, 
and utterlie to destroy the whole nacion of the same : Wherefore his 
Majestie, in his awne persone, without any delay, tooke very laborious 
and paynefull ioumeys towardes the sea coastes, also he sent dyvers of 
his nobles and counsaylours to view and searche all the portes and 
daungiers on the coastes, where any meete and convenient landings 
place might be supposed, aswell on the borders of Englande as also 
of Wales, and in all soche doubtfull places his hyghnes caused dyverse 
and many bulwarkes and fortificacions to be made. 

The castles of Camber and of Walmer, seem to have been 
the largest of the fortresses which were thus constructed by 
the king. 

* Gent. Mag., vol. 67, p. 9, where a print is given of the view on 
entering the gate as it existed in 1797. 



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176 MODERN WINCHELSEA. 

Leland, in his Oygnia Cantio, where his swan is singing and 
recounting the castles raised by King Hen. VIII, on the sea 
coasts, 

Prudeas continuo per alta passim 

Artes littora confici jubebat, 

Expresses that at Winchelsey, in the two following verses : 

Winchelseya suos sinus tuetur, 
Qua Limdnus aquas agit profusas.^ 

"His Hyghnes" selected a very eligible position for Camber 
Castle. At the time it was bxiilt it was probably immediately 
adjoining on the sea shore, and must have been a strong 
guard against an enemy's entrance, either into Rye haven or 
Camber haven. 

"At this time," (1540) says Mr. HoUoway, "the sea flowed 
very close to the walls of this castle on the south-east and 
north sides, and having passed the latter, it formed a large bay, 
running back to the westward as fax as Winchelsea, and cover- 
ing the whole expanse between the east side of this town, and 
the west side of Rye, which constituted one general harbour 
for the two ports. It was for the general defence of the coast, 
and the particular one of this chamber or harbour, that this 
fortress was erected."^ 

Grose tells us, that "in the year 1541, this and all the other 
castles, block-houses, and bulwarks, in Kent and Sussex, were, 
by an act of parliament then made, put under the care of 
the Constable of Dover Castle." 

On 21st July, 1644, (86 Hen. VIII) Captain Philip Chowte 
was appointed for life,^ Captain of this casde, and Superin- 
tendant of the Camber and the Puddle creek, with a salary 
of 2s. a day, and power to appoint eight soldiers and six 
gunners, to be paid sixpence a day each out of the Treasury. 
In 1650, Robert Lucy was his deputy, and there were for the 

1 Lei., vol. 9, p. 21, V. 546, 54V, 564, 565. 2 Hist, of Rye, p. 304. 
3 The letters patent are among the Bering MSS. 



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MODERN WINCHELSEA. 



177 



defence, seventeen gunners and ten soldiers.^ Captain Chowte 
was continued in his office by Mary. 

In 1563, 1 Mary, 1st August,^ the following charges appear 
for this castle : 'Captain Philip Chowte captam there. 



For his wages, after the rate of 28. ye daie by ye yeare 

Under capn. there, ^t 8d. ye daie by y« yeare 

Porter, John Henbury, at 6d. ye daie by ye yeare 

Under porter, Henry Gardiner, at 6d. ye daie by ye yeare . 

Nine soldiers for their wages, at 6d. ye daie, every of them, 
in all by ye yeare 

Seventeen gunners, at 6d. ye daie, every of them, by y« yeare 155 



£ M. 


d. 


36 10 


6 


12 3 


4 


12 3 


4 


9 2 


6 


82 2 


6 


L55 2 


6 



£307 4 2 



In 19th Elizabeth, (1676) Thomas Wilford was Captain.^ 
The annual expense of the castle in her time,* was, — ^^^captaine, 
fee per diem, 2s.; porter, fee per diem, 6d.; soldiers, four, fee 
do. a peece, 6d.; gunners, do. a peece, 6d." 

In her time, a strong mount was cast up on the north side 
of the Camber, and formed an excellent road, to which ships 
repaired when they could not lie at Dover.* 

In 1684, Thos. Wilford was still Captain ;^ and the following 
was " the proporsyon of repeaxations bestowed uppon the 
castells and forts wth in the v ports in anno 1584 and 1685 :'' 
Cambar castell, 1584, in money by warrant, clxx)7. jd. ob q." 
A heavy sum for the repairs of a castle built only forty years 
previously. And, in 1686, 

The chardge wch Her Matie shal be at in fiimishinge the castelles 
and fortes, wth in Mr. L. Wardein's chardge, he hath been accustomed 
in time of warre. Cambre Castell. The capitaine there hathe the Queen's 
Mats bres.patentes wth a certain nombre of gonners and soldiers, for 

1 Bering MSS. Chowte's name also appears in the Benevolence, granted 
36 Hen. VUI. MS. Carlt. Eide. 

2 MSS. in Dulwlch College Library. » Dering MSS. 

* Peck's Desiderata Curiosa, 1, p. 65. * Harris' Hist, of Kent, p. 103. 
« Addl. MSS. Hayley, 6344, p, 610. ^ Lands. MSS, 48, art. 30. 



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178 MODERN WINCHELSEA. 

the keeping thereof, — standing fee. And yet the capitaines doe make 
requeasty as in times past they have doen, for a supply of gonners and 
soldiers.^ 

Thomas Wilford was knighted, and was still Constable^ there 
in 1696. 

In 1610, (James I) there is a roll indented of the names 
of the captain and soldiers of the Castle of Camber, to receive 
pay from the 29th of September, 1610, mustered before Sir 
Thomas Waller. The following names appear: Captain Peter 
Temple, per diem 2s.; the captain's four men 6d. each per 
diem, Thos. Marshall, Marke Conney, Antny. Courtenden, 
-Edmund Packson ; Lieut. Robt. Butler, for himself and his 
men, per diem. Is. ; soldiers 6d. per diem each, Wm. Fox, 
Saml. Fish, Jno. Gallop, Wm. D&wland, Edmd. Collingwood, 
Thos. Boteler, Thos. AUen, Laurence Adams. This roll is 
signed by Robt. Buder, gent., Lieut, of the Casde. The 
orders of the captain were thus given : 

These are to will and require you to take charge and care, under me, 
of several soldiers and gunners above-named, appertaining to the garrison 
of the castle, as well for the due ordering of them as for the performance 
of their several duties, in keeping wardes and watches, as other services 
there to be performed according to his majesty's behoof, according to the 
statutes and ordinances of ye said castle ; and if any of y« said garrison 
shall be found disobediente or negligente in the performance of their 
dewties herein, you are to certifie the Lieuts. of Dover Castle thereof in 
my absence, or else unto myself, that I may see reformation therein as 
the case requires. Signed, Peter Temple, captain.^ 

The casde had, however, already become useless for defence; 
and in Z Chas. I, (1626) we find a commission* directed to 
Lord Tufton, the Lieut, of Dover Casde; Sir N. Elnatchbull; 
and Sir P. Haymond, knight, and the . mayors of Dover, 
Romney, Hide, and Lid, mentioning, 

^ Lans. MSS. 48, art 33. ^ Bering MSS. 

3 MSS. in Dulwich Coll. Library, and Burr. MSS. * lb. 



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MODERN WINCHELSEA. 179 

That the King having been informed that "our Castle of Camber, in 
or county of Sussex, is grown into great decay, being forsaken by the 
sea and left distant from ye water two miles at the least, so as the same is 
now of no further use for defence, but of continual charge unto us ;" and 
'** being humbly advised that our said castle should be demolished and 
the materials thereof sold to our use, and the value thereof employed for 
the fortifying of some other neighbouring castles and forts of more im- 
portance for. our service and the safety of our kingdome," &c., &c. " We 
do give full authority unto you, or any five or more of you," to sell the 
materials of the said Castle of Camber. Witness ourself at West., 15 
Nov., per ipsum regem. 

The demolition was not effected ; and by patent, 8th Octo- 
ber, 9 Chas. I, (1632) the king granted to Thomas Porter, 
Esq., the custody, and office of Constable during life.^ 

On 26th August, 1642, it was ordered by the House of 
Commons that Mr. Morley do prepare an order for removing 
ye ordnance, musquets, powder, and other warlike ammunition 
from ye Castle of Camber, between Rye and Winchelsea, to 
the town of Rye.^ 

29 Aug. Whereas y« and commons in parliament have received 

information that divers pieces of ordnance, with powder, and other war- 
like provisions are now remaining in the Castle of Camber in y« Cinque 
Ports of y« county of Sussex, wch castle being altogether unguarded and 
no way useful for defence of ye sd county, y« ordnance and other provi- 
sions are exposed to the surprise of any ill-affected or malignant persons 
who may thereby be enabled to disturb y« peace of ye sd county ; for 
prevention thereof and to ye intent they may be disposed of into a more 
safe place, ye lords and commons in parliament assembled, do order and 
appoint Captn. Bichd. Cockeram, with ye assistance of ye inhabitants of 
the ancient town of Rye, in ye same county of Sussex, to seize, take, and 
remove ye ordnance and other ammunition from ye sd Castle of Camber 
unto ye said town of Rye, there to be reserved and kept for the use and 
service of ye sd county, and not to be delivered to any person or persons 
without special direction and allowance of both houses of parliament. 
Ordered : That this order be carried up to the House of Lords for their 
concurrence.^ 

1 Bym. Feed., 19, p. 628. » Journ. of Ho. of Commons, 2, 742. 

»Ib. p. 746. 



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180 MODERN WINCHELSEA. 

This order for dismantelling was fully caxried out, and the 
walls were left to decay. So rapid was this, that, in 1664, 
(14 Charles II) we find a petition from Lieut. Wm. Carr for 
a lease of the site for 31 years, with the correspondence^ which 
thereupon ensued. On 3rd June, 1664, the King referred 
the petition to the Lord Treasurer, (Southampton) who, on 
14th June, sent it to Sir Charles Harbord : he, in his turn, 
on 18th June, forwarded it to Sir Denny Ashburnham, who 
was instructed to view the site, calling to his aid such magis- 
trates of the town as he should think fit, and a carpenter and 
mason. Sir Denny reported that this ruined castle, and the 
ground whereon it stood, was of so inconsiderable a value that 
a grant to the petitioner would be worth just nothing ; but 
Sir C. Harbord reported that if the petitioner desired it, the 
Lord Treasurer might do well to grant him a lease for thirty- 
one years, at 12d. rent, with power to take down and make 
sale of the old materials for his own use, without accompt : 
and a constat for such a lease from the preceding Michaelmas- 
day was made out accordingly. Notwithstanding this lease, the 
walls again escaped destruction. They became the property 
of the CaryUs, and have since passed with the manor of 
Higham, in which they are locally situated. 

The area is about three acres ; and during the late war it was 
used for military reviews. In the beginning of 1795, the 
Duke of York reviewed here a brigade, consisting of the 14th 
regiment, then stationed at Winchelsea, and the 69th, then 
stationed at Silver Hill barracks, near Robertsbridge. 

Camber Haven. — ^At the beginning of the reign of Henry 
rV, (1399) the state of this harbour attracted the serious 
attention of the king, who, in the first year of his reign, 
issued his patent for surveying the harbour of Winchelsea : 
viz., from a place called the Camber to Bodiam.^ And in the 
following reign, 2 Henry V, (1414) a patent was issued^ for 

1 Addl. MSS. 5105, p. 12. Lord Treasurer's Warrants, fol. 195. 

2 Rot. Pat, 1 Hen. IV, pt. 8, a tergo. ^ lb., 2 Hen. V, pt 2, a tergo. 



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MODERN WINCHELSEA. 181 

walling and ditching between the port of Bye and Bodiam 
bridge. For some time the harbour remained good; but 
before the end of Henry the Eighth's reign the accumulation 
of beach at the mouth of this haven^ and the want of back- 
water, caused by the inning of the marshes, gave cause for 
uneasiness, and various attempts were made to prevent the 
ruinous eflfects, which had been already produced upon Win- 
chelsea, and were threatening Eye. On 29th January, 1548, 
the Commons read a first time, a bill for the Amending of 
Camber, and the Havens of Winchelsea and Bye,* and, as it is 
afterwards called, for Casting Ballast into the Camber. It was 
read a third time and passed in the Commons on the 19th 
February : it seems to have been lost in the Lords ; and the 
evil was allowed to continue until 26th May, 1562, (4 Eliz.) 
when an inquisition was taken at Bye,* to enquire into the 
decay and ruin of the two havens of Bye and Camber ; and 
the return showed that the injury had been sustained by the 
inning of the marshes, begim since 1582 ; and by Sir John 
Guldeford's inning since 1542, in Guldeford marsh (in his 
second inning) three great creeks ; and by his lately new inned 
marsh, which being two foot lower than the salts, held a great 
quantity of water, which was then stopped and let oflP its 
course. But instead of opening the said creeks and laying 
forth the low marsh lands again. Sir J. Guldeford not only 
kept what he had inned oflF himself, but his heirs continued 
to in and embank more lands from the said haven, till at last, 
to complete the ruin of it, in 1719, Sir Bobt. Guldeford, 
Bart., caused a wall or dam to be erected over the mouth of 
it at Camber point. Thus, in less than 187 years, after the 
inning of the marshes began, was this ancient haven, called 
Le Camber, alias the Waining Creek or Channel, totally 
stopped and destroyed, and a new church and parish erected 
on its ruins, called Guldeford, or East Guldeford. 

^ Commons Journals, p. 7-8. 

2 Burrell MSS., Brit. Mus., 56Y9, p. 486 ; and printed by Horsfield, 
vol. 1, p. 503. 24: 



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182 MODERN WINCHELSEA. 

Notwithstanding the evils thus produced before 1562, we 
find that the mischief was augmented. In 1 570 there is, among 
the papers in the State Paper Office, (undated 1570) a petition 
to Cecil, for a grant on the payment of a fee farm rent of the 
Camber salts, for the purpose of inning them. 

We have already seen the proposal,^ made in the same year, 
on behalf of the town of Winchelsea to the Council, for cut- 
ting a new mouth, to be protected by stone piers and jetties. 
And in the year 1578,* the mayor, jurats, and commonalty of 
the town of Bye petitioned the Council for aid in the repair 
of the Puddle and Creek of Rye, and desired £8,000 to- 
wards the same, and her Majesty's Commission of Sewers 
for cleansing the watercourses from Newenden. 

In 1582, the harbour and town of Winchelsea had gone to 
such decay that Thomas Digges, the excellent mathema- 
tician, when writing of Dover harbour,* says, " If we 
search the very cause of the flourishing estate of London, 
which, almost alone, in quantity, people, and wealth, in this 
age and realm is so increased, and contrary-wise of the poverty, 
or rather beggary and decay of Winchelsea, Rye, Romney, 
Hide, Dover, and many other poor towns, we shall find the 
decay of those havens, and preservation of the Thames, the 
only or chief occasion." Then he goes on to tell the Queen, 
that if her renowned father, in his time, foimd how ne- 
cessary it was to make a haven at Dover, (when Sandwich, 
Rye, Camber, and others were good havens) how much more 
was the same then needful or rather necessary, those good 
havens being extremely decayed, and no safe harbour left in 
aU the coast, almost between Portsmouth and Yarmouth. 

Nevertheless, in the instructions for resisting the Spanish 
Armada,* in 1588, we find this direction: 

Hastinges, whose members be, and are to fynde for the transportation 

1 See ante p. 106. « MSS. in State Paper Office, No. 107. 

' Arch., vol. 11, p. 214-5. * Harl. MSS., 168, p. 115. 



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MODERN WINCHELSEA. 183 

of the Kinge xxj shippes, of xx tonne the peece. Winchelseye, Rye, 
Deleaupenmey, Bulverhide, Bekesbome, and Guanshe. 

In the names of '* the chiefe portes, townes, and creeks in 
the maritime partes of the realme,*'^ we have mentioned, ''Chi- 
chester, Shorham, Brighehnston, Hastinge, Rye, Dover, and 
Sandwich." And in the names of the forts and castles along 
the sea coast, with the names of the co\mties wherein they are,* 
we have ''the castell of Camber, the port Rye, the port of 
Winchelsea, the port of Hastinges, the castell of Pemsey, the 
towne of Bishopston and Bleecherton, the towne of Esbome, 
Cutmere haven, Birlingate, tiie towne of Shrafford, New- 
haven, Brighthemston, Shoram, Little Hampton, the haven 
of ArundeU, and Chichester." Chichester was then the port, 
of which all the ports thence eastward to, and including 
Folkstone, were members.' 

Norden, speaking of the haven of Winchelsea, tells us, that 
"within the memory of many yet living, (1724) there have 
been anchored above 400 sail of the tallest ships of all nations 
in a place called the Camber, near Rye, where now sheep and 
cattle feed." But in 44 Eliz., (1601) Sir Walter Raleigh * had 
declared, " there be many havens which have bfeen famous, 
and now are gone to decay as Winchelsey : Rye is of little 
receipt." 

We gather other interesting particulars of the state of the 
harbour at various times, from the government surveys which 
have taken place, and from the records of the efforts made at the 
commencement of the 18th century to restore the harbour to its 
former uses. The same cause of the decay is in every instance 
agreed on. In a survey^ of the ports on the south-west coast of 
£ngland,from Dover to the Land's End, by Edmund Dummer, 

1 Harl. MSS., 168, p. 116. « lb. p. 117. 

> lb. In 1596, the inhabitants of Sandwich contributed to Rye harbour, 
in consequence of letters from the town of Rye and the Privy Council. 
Boys' Sandwich, p. 700. 

* Townsehd's CoU., 309. « Addl. MSS., 3233. 



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184 MODERN WINCHELSEA* 

surveyor, and Capt. Thomas Wiltshaw, commissioners of his 
Majesty's navy, together with Capt. James Connaway, and 
Capt. William Crust, masters of the Trinity House, at Dept- 
foid, delineated in July and August, 1698, and addressed to 
the principal officers and commissioners of her Majesty's 
navy ; it is said, that 

The Commissioners came to Rye on 5ih July, 1698, and were assisted 
by the informations of the most ancient and best observing persons 
dwelling there, who acquainted them in how much better condition the 
haven of Rye was known to be in former times within memory, and what 
they esteemed to be the reason of the great decay of it at that day, and 
having viewed it, the Commissioners add, that, upon the whole of what 
they saw and observed of the circumstances of this place, they were easily 
induced to make this determination in their opinion. That it was in no 
case proper for a safe harbour to resort to, nor capable to be improved 
by any tolerable charge for any services of the navy, for the following 
reasons. First :— There was a very high sand westward of the entrance 
of the haven, which ran above two miles in length without the mouth 
thereof. The channel or gut towards the haven lyeth on the east side, 
and is, for the whole length of the sand, one continued bar of not above 
four and so to two foot depth at low water, and made it impracticable for 
the smallest vessels to venture in, but when the tide was aloft or lifting 
and smooth water. Secondly: — The harbour within, likewise, at low 
water times, was all dry, except some gleeting of freshes from the country ; 
and all the space of water that was therein, when the tide was out, lay in 
the very entrance of the haven and just within it, capable only of floating 
a few fisher boats. Thirdly :— The encroachments and inning of the lands 
upwards in the country, and the infinite mass of matter that floated in 
the troubled sea, with which all weathers and tides were constantly work- 
ing to fill the same, had almost shut the sea out of this haven : and the 
Commissioners doubted it would be very di£&cult to propound eflectual 
means to remove it, unless it might be possible to be brought to pass to 
give the sea the same freedom of flux and reflux as it was presumed, 
by ancient tradition, to have had for near thirty miles into the country, 
though then confined to less than three miles course that way. But the 
propriety of sundry persons, and the policy of the sewers in several ages 
past, had wholly dammed it out : and doubtless would be very unwilling 
to abandon the wast, which had been, from time to time, taken in at great 
expenses. Therefore, the Commissioners looked upon this haven as entirely 



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MODERN WINCHELSEA. 185 

lost; at -least, in no condition to be esteemed for any services of the navy. 
They then give a map of the harbour as it then was, and after describing 
other ports, the Commissioners wind up their whole report by saying, that 
the havens and rivers of Rye, Pemsey, Cookmere, Newhaven, Shoreham, 
and Arundell were then (whatever they had been) no proper subjects of 
improvement for the navy, for want of that benefit, all useful ports had, 
namely, a sufficient indraught of the sea suitable to the rise of tides up<m 
the same coasts, that there (on springs) were observed to be 19 or 20 feet 
upright : for 'industry, by enclosing waste on the one hand, and nature on 
the other : by the plenty of sullage the sea washed from the higher 
shores, and carried about in motion to lodge again in places more con* 
fined and quiet, which had, by degrees, not only filled vast spaces, once, 
doubtless, possessed by the sea with firm ground, but had likewise choked 
up almost the very passages of the land fresh, which naturaUy tended to 
it, so that in these, as in the decays of natural things in general, the con- 
duits and channels of their being, were destroyed with themselves, and 
the Commissioners doubted without hopes of recovering. 

Notwithstanding this unfavorable report, the inhabitants of 
Bye and Winchelsea made a vigorous, though fruitless, effort 
to obtain the sanction of the Legislature to an amendment of 
the haven, by the restoration of a good supply of back-water. 
A committee of enquiry was appointed by the House of Com- 
mons at the instigation of the members for Bye ; and on 4th 
January, 1699-1700, a petition^ was presented from the 
mayors, jurats, freemen, and chief inhabitants of Winchelsea, 
setting forth, 

''That Rye is the only harbour for ships upon the c6iL»t of Kent and 
Sussex, from Dover to Portsmouth ; lies opposite to Diep and other con- 
siderable French ports, and was a sufficient reception for tlie whole navy 
royal J but now the harbour is so choked up with slub, by the inning of 
land, and making flood-gates and walls across the same, that not more 
than twenty small ships can now lie there $ and if some speedy care be 
not taken, a ship of burden will not be able to get in there, the harbour, 
yearly, growing worse and worse, to the great discouragement of naviga- 
tion and trade :" and praying ''that some course might be taken to restore 
the said harbour to its ancient goodness, which was for the benefit of the 
whole nation." 

^ Journals of Ho. of Com., vol. 13, p. 95. 



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186 MODERN WINCHELSEA. 

The petition was referred to the committee, to whom a like 
petition from Rye, presented on the 16th Dec. preceding, had 
been referred. In the Bye petition, it was said that the mouth 
of the harbour was but sixty fathoms wide, so that a fort 
might be built there at a small charge, which would hinder 
an enemy from coming to annoy the ships riding in the har- 
bour. Petitions in favor of the harbour were also presented 
from Poole, Liverpool, Portsmouth, Limington, Weymouth 
and Melcem Regis, and New Romney. 

Mr. Robt. Colepepyr gave information as to the removal 
of obstructions, which were referred to the surveyor of the 
Navy Board, and having been favorably reported on, the 
report was sent to this committee. It was given in evidence,^ — 
That at the time of the Beachy Head fight, (1690) Capt. Stone 
came into the harbour with a fire ship that drew eleven feet of 
water, and two or three other fire ships : that the St. Andrew had 
rid there in 21 feet of water, and a Dutch man-of-war of forty 
guns, rid afloat with loaded gims : that forty-five years before, 
in Oliver Cromwell's time, a hundred sail of ships could ride 
in the harbour, and that ships could ride against the town of 
Rye, then having two fathoms and a half of water : that even 
during the then late war with the French, twenty sail of ships 
might come and ride within a mile of the town : that recently 
four ships, of about sixty tons each, had put in there without 
anchor and cable : but that the tide then flowed, at spring tides, 
four fathoms, and at low water, not more than a foot and a 
half ; two miles without the town being a flat : that about forty- 
five years before, a ship of 100 tons was built at Appledore, 
six miles above the town : that fifteen or sixteen years before, 
a hoy of sixty tons, which drew nine feet of water, went to 
Blackwall and unloaded there : and that a ship of 100 tons 
was known to have gone up to Stone, in the Isle of Oxney, 
and loaded there. It was also proved that the evil had 

^ Journals of Ho. of Com., vol 13, p. 315. 



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MODERN WINCHELSEA. 187 

arisen from erecting flood-gates, stops, and cross walls, across 
the river Appledore and the channel through Wittersham 
marsh, which were made at Blackwall about 1646, and con- 
tinuing to be made till 1695, took away the strength of the 
water from the harbour, hindered the efflux and reflux of the 
tide, and caused aU the sullage that came in to rebound back 
and settle in the harbour, so that it was choked up. Upon 
which the Committee, on 6th April, 1700, reported, "That the 
cross walls, stops, and flood-gates set up in the river Rother 
and chanel through Wittersham leveU, and inning the said 
river and chanel, and making land of the same ; and likewise 
inning of sea wastes, which draw a constant influx and efflux 
to scour the harbour of Rye, have whoUy injured the naviga- 
tion of the said river and chanel, and are the cause of stopping 
up the said harbour. That if the stops in the chanel through 
Wittersham level shall be taken away, and inside walls made 
on both sides of the chanel, it will restore the ancient navi- 
gation of the river Rother, and make the harbour of Rye a 
good harbour again." 

Parliament was prorogued on the Thursday following, and 
no ftirther steps were that year taken on this report. In the 
new parliament, however, (15th Jan., 1701-2) a bill was 
presented for restoring the harbour to its ancient goodness, 
for the benefit of the nation, which was opposed by the Earls 
of Leicester, Chesterfield, and Thanet, Sir Robt. Guldeford, 
John Hales, Geo. Pearce, John Shelley, Thos. Frewen, Esqs., 
and other land owners, and by the Commissioners^ of Sewers 
for the upper levels, and defeated. 

Had the works, under the act of 1722, for making a new 
harbour, with the mouth near Cliff-End, succeeded, Winchel- 
sea might have been benefitted ; but when those works were 
abandoned, this town lost its last hope of becoming once more 
a port. 

1 Their case is given in Holloway's Romney Marsh, p. 168. They stated 
that 10,000 acres had been inclosed. 



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188 MODERN WINCHELSEA. 

The state of the harbour and its defects are fully pointed out 
in the report of the Commissioners on the Harbours on the 
South-Eastem Coast, made in 1840.^ They agree with the 
former commissioners as to the causes of the decay. Since 
their report, however, a sum of £10,000 towards the im- 
provement of the harbour has been paid by the South-Eastem 
Bailway Company, for leave to make their bridge across the 
river. 

PARISH AND LIBERTY OF. ST. LEONARD. 

The Parish and Liberty of St. Leonard of Iham, as it is 
called in the Hastings Corporation MSS., lies at the north- 
west comer of the town of Winchelsea ; of which, however, 
it never formed part. It has always been, and still is, a liberty 
of the town and port of Hastings, for which place the occu- 
piers of tenements, &c., have the right of voting. like the 
manor of Brede, this parish remained the property of the 
Abbot of Fischampe rmtil Ae dissolution of alien monasteries, 
(temp. Hen. VI) and then it was granted to Syon monastery. 
The best description of this liberty is to be fdund in the 
following survey, made in 1748, preserved among the records 
of Hastings, which, together with a copy of the map, was 
communicated to us by Mr. John Goldsworthy Shorter. 

A survey and representation of the parish of Saint Leonard, situate 
and adjoining to the town and corporation of Winchelsey, in the county 
of Sussex, which said parish belongeth to and is under the jurisdiction of 
the worshipful the mayor, the jurats, and commonalty of the town and 
port of Hasting, in the said county. Herein are exhibited not only all 
the sought or known boundaries and limits, but the whole parish : con- 
sisting of thirteen pieces or parcels of pasture and wood land, the shattered 
remains of St. Leonard's church, a windmill, and the miller's house 
contiguous, as did appear on the said premises to Samuel Cant, the 
appointed and authorized surveyor thereof, taken frpm the best informa- 
tions that could be obtained from the worshipful Edwin Wardroper, 
Esquire, mayor of Winchelsey in 1Y47, and from William Marten, gent., 

1 Report, Pari. Papers, Session 1840, No. 368. 



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MODERN WINCHELSEA. 189 

and John Baker, and also, and more especially and particularly, from 
intelligence afterward had from the Revd. Mr. Willes, minister of the 
parish of St. Thomas the Apostle, in the said corporation of Winchelsey, 
who formerly has gone the bounds of St. Leonard's, as well as those of 
St. Thomas', abutting thereto on the south and south-east, being con- 
fines to each other. He also well remembers (nearly, if not to exactness) 
the procession line went from the mark stone near St. Leonard's church, 
(see the following tables) cross a comer of Mr. Odiame's field, to a point 
in the eastern-most hedge thereof, between a comer thorn bush and a 
shrub ash ; and that the next limit extended cross the next field more 
east, to a point in the northern-most hedge, near to a round stone conick 
building, called the Roundle, in St. Thomas' parish; and to confirm 
these limits, saith, that about a quarter of an acre in Mr. Odiame's field 
always paid tithes annually to him, the present incumbent of St. Thomas' ; 
and that about the same quantity, or a little more, in the Roundle field 
has ever been exempted from the payment of the tithes to him as being 
in St Leonard's. From this last point, he saith, that the limit goes in a 
straight line under the hill, almost impassable to the bottom. And that 
to avoid a precipice and other steep descents, they used to go down a 
footway near the Roundle, into the common highway, fetching a compass 
to that point, which circumambulation of the processioners might induce 
Mr. Wardroper, &c., to imagine that the Ferry marsh was in St. Leonard's 
parish : whereas this marsh has paid tithes (time immemorial) to St. 
Thomas'. The said Mr. Willes saith the limit, from this point, goes 
along by the ditch, bounding Ferry marsh on the west and north-east, 
into the comer of Rushy marsh, near a bridge over the channel. That 
the channel is the north boundary ; that the point of concourse or meeting 
of the waters of the channel and the common sewer, running southward, 
is the western boundary. That, from this point, the limit goes up the 
hedge eastward, to the remains of an old stone house in St. Thomas' 
parish. That passing close by this old foundation, go along the brow in 
or by a green deepish ditch, where formerly was an hedge and trees, as 
appears from stems and roots, northward to the comer of St. Leonard's 
church yard. Lastly, from this point go eastward, through the church 
yard to the mark stone above-mentioned, in the lane or street leading 
into the town of Winchelsey, atnd you will have the limits of St. Leonard's 
parish according to the afore-mentioned declarations. 

The map, which follows, is inaccurate as to the square in 
which St. Thomas' church stands. 

25 



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190 



HODEBN WINCHELSEA.' 

EXPLANATIONS OF MAP. 



Refer- 



Is a known mark stone near St. Leonard'! church yard, and the 

remains of the parish churdi, marked (h,) distance 
Is a sought point in an hedge eastward, cross Mr. Odiame's field, 

between a fhom bush and shrub ash, and distant from 
Is a sought point In an hedge more eastward, cross the Roundla 

piece, being near to it, and at the distance from 
Is a sought point in an hedge north-westemly, cross the Hanging 

piece, over a precipice and some descents, and distant from - 
Is a known point in the eastern-most comer of Rushy marsh, going 

along the ditch boundary. Ferry marsh, near a bridge, distant from 
Is a known point along tlie channel in Rushy marsh, weetemly, in 

the comer, and meeting of the channel and sewer, distant from 
Is a sought point along the sewer, sontfaemly, going through this 

marsh, St. Leonard's marsh, and Brewer's marsh, and distant from 
Is a known point up an hedge at the Barr's, eastemly, near a stone 

foundation oi an house In St. Tliomas' parish, distant from 
Is a known point at the end of the ditch, northward, under St. 

Leonard's church yard fence, being post and rayl, and distant from 
Is the first and. only mark stone aboye-mentioned and described, 

situate in a hme or street leading to the town, distant from 

Total 

So that it appears, and is found by computation, that the extent 
from point to point around the entire parish of St. Leonard's, near 
Winchelsey, amounts to one. mile, one quarter, and twenty-nine 
rods. 

OTHER OBSERYABLES. 

From the mark stone (a) going the St. Leonard's church yard, along 
the way (the dotted line to k) you come to St. Leonard's well, 
which supplies almost all the inhabitants of Winchelsey with good 
water ; 'tis under the southern-most hanger, and is distant from 

The Roundle is supposed to have been a watch tower or a windmill: 
(0 is the north gate, near one mile distant from the south gate : 
(m) is a public house, (Mr. Pamell's) a comer house, entering the 
street leading to St. Leonard's church: (n) is a part of St. Tho- 
mas' church, or rather 'tis the chancel, the body of the church 
being in ruins, the walls having no roof. 



Bods. 





15 


a 


20 


b 


24 


e 


42 


d 


56 


e 


112 


f 


108 


9 


28 


h 


22 


i 


17 




429 



65 



The bounds thus given, coupled with an examination of 
the Kthographed map, will give an accurate view of this 
liberty ; but Mr. Cant goes on to set out the names of the 
thirteen diflferent pieces, with the quantities in each piece, 
and the names of the several owners and tenants. 



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y^^ 









<^ 



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MODEBN WINCHBLSEA. 



191 











Acres, 




VAMB8 OF PIECBS. 


THB 0WVBB8' HAICBS. 


THB 
TBNAHTS' ITA1CB8. 


more 
or less 


1 


Nameless, or the Short Acre field - 


Captain Pigram, of Rye • 




1 


2 


Nameless, or the Hilly field 


Lord Yiscoimt Donerayle 


John Knight 


.1 


S 


Brewer's marsh - - - 


Ditto, late Newman's - 


Francis Cruttenden 


4 


Nameless, or St. Leonard's church 










field - - - . 


Loifl Donerayle 


John Knight 


4 


5 


Saint Leonard's marsh 


William Stone, Esq. 


Francis Cruttenden 


6 


6 


Rushy marsh, southern-most 


Lord Donerayle 


John Knight 


a 


7 


Rushy marsh, middlemost 


Ditto 


Ditto 


8 


Rushy nuirsh, northern-most, east- 










em-most - - - - 


Ditto 


Ditto 


7 


9 


The two hangers, wood land, rough 


Ditto 


Ditto 


H 


10 


The MiU field 


Ditto 


Edward Catt 


5 


11 


The Roundle piece ... 


Ditto 


Ditto 


oi 


12 


Nameless, or the Street field 


Bdward Odiame, gent.. 










of Winchelsey 


Joseph Tree 


61 


18 


The garden, the bank, the l^ouse. 


Mr. Newnham or Mr. 








the mill . . . . 


Staffield, of Rye 


Thomas Taylor - 
Total by Estimation 


04 


481 


N.B.— Number 1, 2, 4, and 12 are feigiied names, by me assumed, and so called 


from No. 1 being something short of an acre; No. 2 is a rising ground or hilly; No. 


4 is under or below St. Leonard's church yaM ; and No. 12 is a4joining to the lane or 


street. The course of the channel fh)m (ft) westward, and ttoxa the Ferry house. 


eastward, is only feigned by way of ornament. Also the marshes and ditches in the 


level the same. Together with the plan of the town, which, notwithstanding, seemed 


to me necessary by way of iUustration and ease in finding the premises. — Samuel 


Cant, 1748. 



Church, &c. — The Churcli was formerly an object of con- 
siderable interest* In it, says Lambard, " stood the image of 
St. Leonard holding a fane, or rather Eolus' mace, in his 
hand, which women and others of like infirmities used to turn 
(after oflFering made) toward such coasts as they desired the 
wind to serve for the speedy return of their friends or 
husbands." 

The living was a rectory thus valued in Pope Nicholas' 
Taxation. 

Ecclesia de Yham non excedit, £^ 13s. 4d. 

The last institution of the rector to be found in the Bishop's 
Registers, is 

1484, Dec. 18. Thomas Bate, Canon regulaxis, on the decease of John 
Grafton, and on the presentation of the Abbess and Convent of Syon, 

From this time the church was allowed to fall to decay, and 
all traces have now disappeared. 



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192 MODERN WINCHELSEA. 

CORPORATION. 

The most accurate account of this Corporation is to be found 
in the report made in 1835, by the Commissioners for en- 
quiring into the Municipal Corporations in England and Wales; 
and that report we must take as our guide. The title of the 
corporation is, "llie Mayor, Jurats, and Commonalty of the 
Ancient Town of Winchelsea." 

The officers appointed by the Corporation are, or should 
be, a Mayor; twelve Jurats; Town Clerk; Chamberlain; 
Sergeant-at-Mace ; Town Serjeant ; Water Bailiff; Gaoler ; 
six Constables ; and a Pound Driver. The number of Free- 
men, (in 1834) exclusive of the jurats, was three : it has 
been increased since to thirteen, the present number including 
the jurats. The mayor is elected annually, on Easter Monday, 
from the freemen, at what is called a Hundred Court, by the 
mayor, jurats, and freemen. . In order to form this court, 
there must be present, the mayor or his deputy, and at least 
two jurats, and two freemen. It had been always customary 
for the corporation and town clerk to meet together the even- 
ing before the election, and arrange who should be mayor for 
the following year. Such person had been then proposed the 
next day and elected, as a matter of course. For many years 
the mayor had seldom been resident. The duties had 
generally been performed by a deputy, except on the day of 
election, when the mayor had usually attended. The office, 
until 1832, had been for some years confined to three indi- 
viduals, one of whom had always been elected. The object 
of the system pursued in this election, and that of the jurats, 
as well as in the admission of freemen, may be briefly stated. 
Previously to the Reform Act, the freemen had the exclusive 
right of voting for members of parliament for the town. For 
many years the patronage of the borough was considered to 
be entirely in the hands of one individual ; all the elections, 
therefore, had been made with reference to his parliamentary 
interest. Most of the persons elected jurats, had been on first 



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MODERN WINCHELSEA. 19S 

coming into the corporation, strangers to the town. There 
can be no doubt that some of them had taken up their resi- 
dence there, solely for the purpose of keeping up the patron's 
interest. In order to preserve the borough as close as 
possible, the number of electors had been kept as low as 
would secure the existence of the corporation. By this means, 
one or two individuals could prevent any valid meeting of the 
corporation taking place, by merely staying away from it. 
One object of always electing a personal friend of the patron 
to the office of mayor, was, that of having him for Returning 
Officer in case of an election. Additional security was also 
obtained by it. The mayor has the appointment of his own 
deputy, whom he can displace at pleasure : and the presence 
of one or other of them is necessary for every corporate meeting. 
These two would have been able to prevent any admis- 
sion into the body, even if all the other members of it had 
combined to open the corporation. No election took place at 
Easter, in 1833, and the mayor of the preceding year con- 
tinued in office. The town clerk and other inferior officers, 
with Mr. John Tilden, went into the hall on the day of 
election, but, as neither the mayor or his deputy attended, no 
Court could be held. Another attempt was made the following 
day, pursuant to the statute, with the same success. The 
deputy mayor stated, that the reason of his non-attendance 
was his having had no instructions from the mayor to attend. 
He admitted, however, that it was understood before hand 
that no election should be come to. There seemed to be no 
doubt that this proceeding had been agreed upon between 
the patron and his friends, purposely to cause a dissolution of 
the corporation, the disfranchisement of the borough having 
takeii away all inducement to them to take any further trouble 
in the afiairs of the town.^ 

A deputy mayor is annually appointed by the mayor, to 
officiate for him in his absence during the year. The appoint- 

^ Commissioners* Report. 



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194 MODERN WINCHELSEA. 

ment is made after that of jurats has taken place ; one of 
whom is always appointed. The deputy mayor has always 
been resident. 

The jurats are appointed annually, by the mayor, out of the 
freemen. As soon as he has taken the oaths, he calls upon 
such freemen, not exceeding twelve in number, as he thinks 
proper, who then take the oaths of Justices of the Peace. It 
is not necessary that they should be present at the time, as 
they may take the oaths at any time during the year. It has 
been usual to re-appoint all who have ever been jurats. Of 
late years, four or five have generally been appointed. 

All the other officers are elected annually, on the same day 
as the mayor. The right of election of all of them, except 
the serjeant-at-mace and constables, is in the mayor, jurats, 
and freemen, joindy.^ The appointment of constables is 
probably in the justices only. The sergeant-at-mace is ap- 
pointed by the mayor. 

The freemen are admitted at a common assembly, consisting 
of the mayor, jurats, and freemen. There have seldom been 
more than twelve at one time, including the mayor and jurats.^ 
The members of parliament have generally been admitted, 
pursuant to the resolution of a Guestling, temp. Elizabeth, but 

^ As long as the freemen of 1834 had been acquainted with the corpo- 
ration, all the elections had been merely matters of form, the selection of 
the officers having been made by those members of the corporation who 
had the principal management of the borough. As soon as the deputy 
mayor and jurats were appointed, a list was handed to the mayor, con- 
taining the names of the officers for the following year. Persons who 
wished it were continued in office : when any one had signified a wish to 
resign his office, the name of his successor was inserted instead of his. 
The mayor then read over the list, and proposed each person. No oppo- 
sition was ever made, and the officers were severally sworn into their 
offices. 

2 Although the Corporation refused to admit the inhabitants to their 
freedom, they did not scruple to fine non-freemen for exercising their 
callings within the town. In the Chamberlain's book there is this entry : 
" 1762. To received for fines of Messrs. Johnson, Christopher Clarke, 
John Clarke, Thomas Atwell, and Colin Bridger, for exercising their 
trades in the town, £2 12s. 6d." 



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MODERN WINCHELSEA. 195 

as they have not resided and paid rates^ they were not entitled 
to any privileges.^ 

The whole number of freemen, including jurats, is now, 
(1850) as we have seen, only thirteen. 

The Mayor, Jurats, and Freemen form the governing body 
of the corporation. Forty-eight hours notice of every meeting 
is requisite. This is given to each resident member person- 
ally, by the sergeant-at-mace, on a precept directed to him by 
the mayor. 

The Mayer is a Justice of the Peace for the town and liberty. 
He or his deputy is a quorumr Judge of the Court of Kecord. 
The mayor is also Coroner. 

Formerly the mayor received 20s. every quarter, or £4 a 
year salary. He has now no salary nor any other emoluments. 

The duties of the Jurats are confined to those which devolve 
upon them as Justices of the Peace for the town and liberty. 
They have no emoluments. ^ 

The Ti>ton Clerk attends all the meetings of the corporation, 
and enters the proceedings. He acts as Clerk to the Justices. 
In early days he had a salary of 10s. a quarter, or £2 a year : 
of late years he had no salary, but charged for his services in 
a professional biQ. 

The Chamberlain acts as the Treasurer of the Corporation. 
He seems to have had no salary or emoluments: he is a 
freeman. 

The Sergeant-at'Mace attends at and proclaims all the courts 
and assemblies. He serves all the precepts and summons the 
juries. When the Court of Record was in operation, the 

^ The object in all the admissions Y/m merely to keep the parliamentary 
borough in the hands of the patron : no one was admitted who was not 
either a personal Mend of his, or who had not some strong inducement 
to promote his interest. Most of those admitted of late years, up to 
18d4, had come to reside witJain the town from a distant part of the 
kingdom. Some of them had a nominal residence, and were rated in the 
town, but had seldom gone there except on occasions of elections of 
mayor and of members of parliament. 



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196 MODERN WINCHELSEA. 

sergeant-at-mace was one of the attomies of it, and the person 
to whom the process was directed. In practice, the sergeant- 
at-mace has been also goaler, crier, water-bailiff, and constable. 
Formerly his salary as sergeant,^ was 7s. 6d. a quarter, or 30s. 
a year : now it is £3 2s. 8d. He receives from the corpora- 
tion 6s. for every jury which he summons. He has an annual 
allowance of £1 for taking care of the court hall. Up to 
1834, he had a salary as gaoler, of £25 He has the custom- 
ary fees as constable for executing warrants. He has no 
allowance as crier, and his earnings as such are very trifling. 
The duties of Town Sergeant are the same 'as those of 



^ The Chamberlain's accounts were formerly audited yearly ; but between 
1812 and 1834 there was no audit. In the earliest Chamberlain's book, 
which has been preserved, commencing 1753, there is this entry of the 
salary formerly paid. 1755, March 26. Pd Benjn. Tree, town sergeant, 
salary and two years blowing the horn, due at Easter, 1753, £1 198. 
Blowing the horn was the mode of summoning all the assemblies. The horn 
blower took a very prominent part in the entrance into Yarmouth of 
the Bailiffe from the Cinque Ports, to regulate the herring fishing. In 
the record of the proceedings in 1833, -when no mayor was elected, it 
is expressly stated that the corporation were duly warned according to 
ancient custom, by sounding the horn at the break of day. And some 
years since, when a riot occurred at Hastings, and the gaol was broken 
open by the fishermen, to release their wives and children, imprisoned for 
selling fish at their accustomed place, the Stade, the men were assembled 
by blowing the horn along the stade. The Winchelsea horn yet retains 
its place in the town hall. The entries in the Chamberlain's books are 
few, and generally uninteresting ; a very few only may be worth recording. 

£ s. d. 

1755, Jany 9. Pd for the press warrant - - - 2 6 

1 756, May 14. Pd John Alee, spent at the declaration of war, &c. 19 8 
1761. Pd ditto, a bill of expences at the coro- 
nation and other times - - - - 

Pd Ben. Tree a bill of expences at the same time 
Faggots and fireworks at the same time 
1764. Two Frenchmen's gaol allowance - 

For watching the Frenchmen at the gaol 
Mr. Mayor, as per bill for conveying the 

Frenchmen to Horsham 
For cushions for seat in the church 



9 2 


10 


2 16 


8 


3 7 





11 


3 


3 2 





4 10 


6 


15 


2 



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MODERN WINCHELSEA. 197 

sergeant-at-mace, for which he has his salary. He is Pound 
Driver, for which office his profits are very small. 

The Water Bailiff^ is the officer authorised to execute 
warrants and to make arrests upon the sea, within the juris- 
diction of the corporation. There are no emoluments attending 
the office, beyond the usual fees for executing warrants. . 

The Constables are seldom called upon : they reside within 
the town of Winchelsea. 

It was not known in 1834, that the Freemen had ever en- 
joyed any special privilege ia the town beyond that of voting 
for members of parliament ; but they are entitled to the same 
exemption from toll, and to the same general privileges as 
other freemen of the Cinque Ports. 

The Quarter Sessions are held regularly before the mayor 
or deputy mayor, and jurats. The jurisdiction of the court 
extends to capital felonies ; but they, and indeed all serious 
cases, are sent for trial at the Assizes or County Sessions. The 
town clerk is the Clerk of the Peace. 

The Court of Record was to be held every fortnight, before 
the mayor or his deputy, and two or more jurats. The court 
days are Tuesdays.^ In practice, during recent tunes, the 
court was never held, except when there was business to be 
done, but regular entries of adjournments were made ia the 
book. It has jurisdiction over all actions, real and personal. 
The greatest use to which it was applied, was levying fines. 
The expense was about £4 each fine. Since the act, however, 
for the abolition of fines and recoveries, this business has 
ceased. The court exercised its powers for any amount, and 
was, in effect, a Court of Request. A court of this nature, 
for debts under 40s., has immemorially existed at Rye ; and 
the constitutions of the two towns are in other respects the 
same. 

} The emblem of the Water Bailiff's office is a silver oar ; and, as part 
of Rye harbour is in this jurisdiction, his aid is needed to take offenders 
there into custody. 

2 Jeake. 26 



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198 MODERN WINCHELSEA. 

A rate, in the nature of a County Rate, is imposed on the 
whole district within the jurisdiction of the Corporation, at 
the Quarter Sessions. It was first imposed about the year 
1818. The usual rate is 6d. in the pound upon a fixed rental.^ 
The rental for Winchelsea is £1,476 ; for the part of Ickle- 
sham within the liberty, £1,188 ; of BroomhiU £1,248 ; and 
of Pett £127. The frequency of the rate has depended 
chiefly upon the number of smugglers taken. The charges 
upon it consist of the usual expenses of inquests and prisoners, 
gaoler's salary, allowance to the juries for dinners, and trea- 
surer's salary of £3 3s. 

Town Dues. — The only revenue which the Corporation 
possesses, is derived from the Town Rents, of which, together 
with the King's Rents, we give a list. Many are fee-farm rents, 
and are paid in respect of the houses and lands granted by 
Elizabeth to the town, or for buildings which have been 
erected on what was originally the waste land of the town.^ 
An exchange was made about 1830, of the site of the public 
pound, for a small plot of ground, and the pound removed to 

^ Out of a Land Tax of 4s. in the pound, amounting altogether to 
£1,257 4s., for Hastings, Rye, and "Winchelsea, the last town paid £405. 
Addl. MSS., 6344,p. 437.. 

• The majority of these grants was made between the years 1660 and 
1690. Several are in the possession of Mr. Stileman. They were, usually 
made in consideration of a sum of money paid at the time, and of a small 
reserved rent. They are only interesting now as shewing the names of 
places and of the then inhabitants, and boundaries of property. Among 
them, on 3rd August, 1675, is a grant to Richard Chesson and his attor- 
ney, Mr. Hovedon, of a piece of land called Furze Bank and Deadman's 
lane, containing a quarter of an acre, abutting to Saffiron garden and 
Furze Bank field, towards the east, to land called Frayes, towards the 
north, to Crooked Acre and Font's field, towards the west, and to a lane 
leading to Icklesham, between Gallows Hill field and Furze Bank field, 
towards the south, at the yearly rent of 12d. And on 21st April, there 
was a similar grant to R. Chesson, in consideration of £4, and the yearly 
rent of 6d., of several parcels of streets or lanes on the west side of the 
town, adjoining to a parcel of land of Chesson's, called Hammell, as far 
as the north-west comer of St. Giles' church yard, and towards the east 



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T!-ar 





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MODERN WINCHBLSEA. 199 

another part of the waste. The ground taken in exchange is 
let by the Corporation. The fee-faxm rents, as stated in the 
report of the commissioners, amount to £19 Os. T^d. The 
whole income of the Corporation, in 1834, was only £22 3s. TJd. 
During the halcyon days of nomination, the difference between 
the receipts of the town and the expenditure was made up by 
the patron : it was of no importance, therefore, to audit the 
Chamberlain's accounts. 

Seal, &c. — The Seal of the Corporation is as ancient as 
the corporate seal of any port, and is far more elaborate than 
the seals of most towns. For the annexed engraving we are 
indebted to the kindness of the Sussex Archaeological Society,^ 
and to the author of the paper on the Cinque Port Seals in 
Sussex, Mr. Mark Anthony Lower, of whose description, 
with some slight additions, we make a free use. The date of 
the seal is the early part of the reign of Edward I ; the 
royal arms do not contain the quartering of France, which 
took place 14 Edw. Ill, (1340) and the banner bears the arms 
of Lewknor, Or. three chevronSy gu,^ who was, as we have 
seen, one of the owners at the foundation of the new town. 

The obverse is the same as that on the Pevensey seal, and <' exhibits an 
ancient ship with a poop and an embattled forecastle, both very lofty. 
On the latter is a banner, and abaft the staff of it a fleur-de-lis. The 
crew consists of eight men, one of whom is steering ; over his head, upon 
the poop, are two others with immense speaking trumpets, like those 
observable in many seals of this period ; four others are engaged in draw- 
ing in a cable and squaring a yard, and the remaining man is ascending 
the backstay. Above the yard are a crescent and a star, and beneath it the 



as far as the highway, leading from Pipewell gate towards Newgate, and 
westward as far as the bars entering Furze Bank field, and northward as 
far as the highway, from Petmorris upward, towards the town, all which 
were situate in the parish of St. Thomas, and contained one acre. Among 
the same deeds, we find that Crooked Acre and Soggs, two acres, were in 
Winchelsea ; but that the piece of marsh land adjoining Crooked Acre, 
called Philpott*s, containing one acre, was in St. Leonard's parish. 
'Suss. Arch. Collections, vol. 1, p. 21. 



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200 MODERN WINCHEtSEA. 

royal arms of three lions passant. The legend is, SIGILLVM: babonym : 
DOMINI: REGIS: ANGLIE : DE : WINCHELLE8E. 'The Seal of the Barons 
of our Lord the King of England of Winchelsea.'" 

The device of the Counter Seal^ is of a very elaborate kind: 
like the seals of Shrewsbury and other towns, it consists of a 
representation of the public buildings of the town. On the 
right side is the gothic church of St. Thomas, with its nave, 
side aisles, and central tower, and spire with crocketted gables 
aud pinnacles : on the lefl side is the gothic church of St. 
Giles, with a nave, side aisle, and spire, also shewing crocket- 
ted gables and pinnacles. In the centre is a high embattled 
tower, representing, most probably, the town hall andlight- 
house. 

On the central tower stands the figure of a warden " holding out a 
lantern, as if to guide benighted mariners into port. In front of this 
personage, on a shield, are the three lions passant of England, and behind 
his back is a banner charged with three chevrons for Lewknor.'' More 
to the left, perched upon the spire of St Giles* church, is a " bird, which 
appears to have been introduced merely for the purpose of filling up a 
blank space in the design." At the base of the seal, below the tower and 
churches, are three or four buildings, representing the religious houses 
of the new town, and below them waves of the aea. In the central or 
tower compartment is a doorway, approached by several steps : m the 
opening are figures, representing the Annunciation ,-' and in a small niche 
above, there is a crowned or nimbed figure of the Virgin and child : on 
the left hand, in two niches, are " representations of St. Giles caressing that 
faithful hind, by whose milk his life is reputed to have been sustained. 
The three niches to the right of the tower exhibit the martyrdom of St. 
Thomas a Becket. In the central compartment the Archbishop in his 
pontificals is seen kneeling before an altar, while an attendant priest 
elevates a crucifix above his head, as if to ward off the sword of one of 
the assassin knights, who, from behind, is aiming the fatal blow. On the 
left, another is seen armed with a shield and a drawn sword ; and to the 
right, a third is in the act of unsheathing his weapon. These representa- 

^ The Counter Seal now in use is a modem imitation of the original, 
which was lost during an electioneering squabble, and is now in the 
possession of Mr. W. J. Denne. 



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MODERN WINCHELSEA. 20l 

tions of S. S. Giles and Thomas refer to the dedications of the two 
principal churches of Winchelsea, and the surrounding legend contains 
an invocation of these joint patrons of the port, viz.: 

{^EGIDIO: THOME: LAUDVM : PLEBS : CANTICA : P(R0)ME : 
NE : SIT : IN : ANGARIA GREX : SWS : AMNE : VIA. 

The precise meaning of the second verse has long been a matter of 
enquiry and discussion. Mr. J. D. Parry's translation, which, to the Rev. 
Edmund Cartwright, seemed to express the meaning as near asiit can be 
made out, was, 

* To Giles* and Thomas' praise, ye people chaunting pray ; 
Lest in the Angarian road their flock be washed away.' 

Though this rendering is obviously absurd, it is not very easy to arrive 
at the true sense." Mr. Lower's attempt to do so was, that Angaria was 
" applied to any pressed or compulsory service, and from thence came to 
mean anxiety or distress of any kind. * In angaria' then simply means, 
*in a straight,' or *in distress.' Amne again, is *sea,' not *river.' These 
terms accepted, the whole will read thus : 

Give forth, O people, songs of praise to Giles and Thomas : 
Lest their flock be in distress by sea or land. 

Or, more paraphrastically : 

Pour forth your songs, ye people all, 

To Giles' and Thomas' praise ; 
Lest evil should their flock befall. 

By land or ocean's ways. 

Mr. Lower, however, had some doubt about amne via." 

The translation of Mr. Boys, in his History of Sandwich, is this : 
" *Address,.ye people, songs of the praises of Thomas to Giles, lest his flock 
be in danger by water or land.' The address to the patron saints is by no 
means inappropriate in relation to the far-wandering mariners of "Win- 
chelsea, whose trade was in a great degree a foreign, and consequently 
(at the period when the seal was engraved) a dangerous one. 

The Winchelsea Mayoralty Seal has the Cinque Ports' arms very incor- 
rectly designed, and bears the inscription : SIGILLTTM : MAIORATUS: ville : 
DE : wynchelle, in Old English characters of the 15th century. In the 
intervals between the shield and the legend are three figures, which are 
not very intelligible, but which, on a comparison with the corresponding 
seal of Rye, may be intended for wyvems." 

The Mayor's Seal appears to be of the age when the Pipe- 
well gate was restored, (Hen. IV) and made to supply an 
older seal lost during the attacks of the French. 



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202 MODERN WINCHELSEA* 

The Maces are handsome^ of the time of Charles. 

The Mayor's Chair, which was removed during the corporate 
disputes, was of oak carved. It is still in existence, and in a 
private person's possession. 

The earliest documents connected with the Corporation, 
which we have been able to discover, are two very curious 
and highly interesting rolls of the accounts of the town. 
The first from Easter, 11th Eich. II, (1388) to Easter, 12th 
Eich. II, (1389 ;) and the second from Easter, 22nd Eich. II, 
(1399) to Easter, 1 Henry IV, (1400.) They are preserved 
among the Dering MSS., and are among the most valuable 
of the extracts, which we have been so kindly allowed to 
make, from that interesting collection of documents relating to 
the Cinque Ports. The items comprise payments for the 
wages and expenses of the members of parliament; of the 
mayor and jurats at the Court of Shepway ; of journeys to 
the BrodhiU ; of 18s. 4d. for the mayor's expenses to London; 
of £3 lOs. to the bailiff to Great Yarmouth ; of salaries to the 
mayor, town clerk, and town sergeant ; of thatching the town 
hall, and of 6s. 8d. for rent of the hall ; of 12d. for labour 
in the time of affliction (general illness ;) of presents of fish to 
Sir Edw. DaUyngerigge of Bodyam, and to the Prior of Can- 
terbury ; of 12d. each for messengers from Dover, and of 4d. 
each for messengers to Eye ; of 65s. 4d. for the expenses of 
the men of the county coming to the succour of the town on 
Friday and Saturday, the. 21st and 22nd August, 1388 ; of 
removing stones froiu the cliff; of wood for the beacon at 
Fairlight, and of wages for watching the same ; of 14d. for 
a rope for the bell of St. Giles' church; and of 12d., in 1389, 
for sounding the curfew, which practice would seem to have 
been discontinued on the introduction of a striking clock into 
the town, for in 1399 the charge for the curfew has disap- 
peared from the accounts, and instead of it an item of 6s. a 
quarter appears for the care of the clock ; and foreigners are 
required not to be in the streets after a certain hoiu: " of 



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MODERN WINCHELSEA. 203 

the clock." There are other items in the last account for the 
mayors of Hastings and Rye, with two clerks, copying the 
charter of the liberties of the ports, and many expenses 
incurred in the numerous arrests of ships in the Camber, 
which took place in the latter part of the year 1399. 

Eleventh and Twelfth Richard II, (1388.) — Expense 
denariorum commitatis ville de Winchelse. . . .per manus 
Roberti Harri, Majoris, a die Lune in Septimina Pasche 
anno regni Regis Ricardi secundi post conquestum undecimo 
usque eundem diem anno regni ejusdem Regis duodecimo. 

A festo Pasche usque ad Nativitatem Sancti Johannis 
Baptiste. 

Primo in expensis apud Schepweyam die Martis proxime post Septi- 
minam Pasch. xlj«. iiijrf. ; et pro xv equis ad hoc allocatis xv«. — ^It. in 
expensis ad unam Gestlynff, tentam hie die Veneris proxime sequente 
iiij«. YU}d. — ^It. in expensis Majoris et Willielmi Skele, apud London pro 
Parliamento, per ix oies, xxxiii«. iv</.; et pro iii equis x«. — It. in expensis 
ad removendsmi navem Simonis Saleme extra solam, et aliis expensis, 
V8. bid, — ^It. Idem Major cuidam nuncio Domini Kegis die Sabbati in 
Septimina Pentecoste xijrf. — ^It. pro pisse missa Domino Edwardo Dallyn- 
gerigge, una cum caria^io vi». \d. — It. in expensis Prioris et aliorum 
Monachorum de Bello, die Jovis proxime ante Festum Sancti Bamabe 
xJ. — ^It. pro bruera empta ad becnam de Ffarlegh xv</. — ^It. Johanni 
Simoni pro warda facienda ibidem per unam Septiminam circa Festum 
St. Bamabe iiijc?. — ^It. dedit imo ffayto^ Dovorr portanti breve pro compoto 
Benedicti Cely, in eadem Se^timma xijrf. — ^It. soluit pro cariagio petrarum 
circa cHvam nyid. — ^It. soluit Edwardo Marthemme pro mora sua ad 
parliamentum per septem Septiminas liiij«. iiiie^. — It. soluit Domino 
Johanni Devereux custodi Quinque Portuum xili. ii«. iiijrf. — It. soluit Joye, 
pro batello suo usque Ryam ad habendum colloquium cum custode die 
Sabbati proxime ante Festum Johannis Baptiste Yid, — ^It. dedit uno gayti 
Dovorr portanti mandatum pro Majore, oallivo, et duobus hominibus 
essendis apud Dovorr die Lune proxime ante Festum Sancti Bamabe 
xijc?. — ^It. in expensis Majoris, Ballivi, et duorum hominum ibidem die 
Lune proxime ante Festum Nativitatis Sancti Johannis Baptiste xi«. mjd,; 
et pro quatuor equis vi«. — ^It. soluit Roberto Burghamme pro labore suo 
xij(/. — ^It. soluit Roberto Burghamme portanti retomum nostrum apud 
Castrum Dovorr, de bonis seductorum foris xxd, — ^It. dedit uno gayto 
Dovorr portanti diversa brevia de compoto Majoris xij</., die Dominica 
proxime ante Festum Nativitatis Sancti Johanms Baptiste. — It. pro una 
corda ad campanam Sancti Egidii xiiijrf. — ^It. pro pisse missa Priori de 
Cantuaria vi«. iiije/. — ^It. soluit Majori pro feodo suo xx«. — It. Johanni 
Gotes, clerico, pro eodem x«. — ^It. Johanni Wynder, servienti vii». vj<?. — 
It. Petro Flemyng, pro collectione petrarum juxta clyvam viijc?. 

Summa xxiij/. v«. id. 
^ "Watchman. 



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204 MODERN WINCHELSEA. 

A festo Nativitati Sancti Johannis usque Festum Sancti 
Michaelis. 

It. soluit Johanni Simond pro warda de Farlegh, per iii Septiminas xilc?. 
— ^It. dedit uno valetto de Kia, portanti patentes pro Brodhill, die Jovis 
proxime post Festum Sancti Margarete iiijc?. — ^It in expensis Henrici 
Ffynch et Johannis Gotes ad eandem die Lune proxime secmente apud 
Romene una cum allocatione batelli v». — ^It. dedit uno gayti Dovorr por- 
tanti mandatum pro Parliamento die Jovis proxime post Festum Assump- 
tionis Beate Mane xijcf. — ^It. pro warda de Farlegh per alias iii Septiminas 
xijrf. — ^It. dedit uno gayti Dovorr portanti diversa brevia die iJominica 
proxime ante Festum Sancti Egioii xij<?. — It. in expensis Majoris, et 
Rogeri de Dovorr apud Bellum ad habendimi colloquium cum Abbate 
eodem die xijrf. — ^It soluit Henrico de Worth, pro diversis laboribus 
tempore afilictionis xijd, — ^It. soluit Roberto Burghamme, eundo Dovorr, 
cum retomo nostro de Parliamento, et cum retomo de Hastings xijd. — 
It Henrico Celv et Mattheo Goldyne pro Parliamento iiij/». xiii*. iiijrf. ; 
et eodem Henrico pro mora sua ibidem post dictum Matthemn viij«. iiijc^. 
— ^It. Roberto Burghamme, pro servicio suo ibidem v«.; et pro iii equis 
xv«.; et pro cera empta viif. — ^It in expensis Majoris apud London, pro 
compoto suo de anno precedenti de diversis brevibus xiij». ui^d. — ^It. soluit 
Thome Tayllor, Ballivo Magni Jememuth iij/». x«. — ^It. WiUielmo "Wastel, 
pro curfew sonendo xi}d, — ft in expensis factis super homines de patria 
venientes, pro salvationem ville die Veneris, et die Sabbati proxime post 
Festum Assumptionis Beate Marie (21st and 22nd August) lv«. iiijc^, ut 
patet per parcellas. — ^It soluit Majori pro feodo suo xx«. — ^It commimi 
clerico x«. — ^It communi servienti vij«. yje/. 

Summa xv/i. x«. viije/. 

A festo Sancti Michaelis usque Nativitatem Domini. 

Idem Major dedit uno gayti Dovorr, portanti mandatum pro Johanne 
Gotes essendo Dovorr die Veneris proxime ante Festum omnium Sanc- 
torum xij<f. — It. Roberto Burg^hamme portanti retomum nostrum, de 
Hastynges et Rie, Dovorr xija. ? — It dedit uno gayti Dovorr portanti 
mandatum pro Majore, Ballivo, et iii hominibus essendis Dovorr die 
Mercurii proxime ante Festum Sancte Lucie xijrf. — ^It. in expensis 
Mathei Goldyne, Johannis Herde, et Johannis Gotes, apud Dovorr et 
dictam Brodhill per quatuor dies, eundis, et rediundis xiiii«. iiijcf., una 
cum allocatione bateUi eundis et redeund. ■Kxijd. — ^It pro allocatione equi 
Mathei Goldyne xyjcf. — ^It in expensis Majoris et Clerici apud Riam ad 
habendum colloquium cum^ Thoma Tayllor de redditibus Jememuth xrf., 
et pro batallo allocato y\d, — ^It. soluit Roberto Burghamme, portanti 
retomum nostmm apud Dovorr de Inquisitione de diversis bonis mventis 
per mare xxd, — ^It soluit Majori pro feodo suo xx«. — ^It communi clerico 
x«. — ^It communi servienti vij«. vjrf. 

Summa iij/». xvje^. 

A festo Nativitatis Domini usque Festum Pasche. 

It dedit Roberto Essex die Lune proxime post Festum Circumcitionis 
Domini vi«. viijc?. — It Ricardo Sednor clerico castri Dovorr in Crastino 
iii«. iiij«?. — It. uno gayti Dovorr venienti cum eodem portanti diversa 



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MODERN WINCHELSBA. 205 



brevia xij J. — ^It. dedit uno nuncio Regis die Sabbati prozime sequente iiijdL 
— ^It uno famulo de Rya portanti patentee pro Brodnell tenenda die Lune, 

Jroxime post Festum Sancti Vincentii iujc^. — It. in expensis Johannis 
akeman et Rogeri de Dovorr ad eandem iv«. viijrf. — ^It pro batello eis 
allocato xvie^. — It. soluit Johanni atte Halle, pro una secta de tempore 
Roberti Londeneys, quondam Majoris \8, — ^It. eodem jjro alia secta per 
ipsum facta de tempore Roberti Harri, Majoris yu, vmd. — ^It. Johimni 
oneppe eunti cum eisdem ad dictam Brodhull ^^jd- — i^t. soluit Roberto 
Arnold ad prosequendam allocationem xve ad Festum , Purificationis 
Beate Marie xiij«. iiijc^.; et pro allocatione equi sui iij«. iiijJ. — ^It. pro 
papere, pergameno, et sera emptis ij«. \jd, — ^It pro uno storio^ ad domum 
communem iiije^. — It. dedit nuncio Comitis Cantie yenienti ad inquiren- 
dum de quibusdam hominibus captis pro suspectis in dominio suo xij<^. — 
It. dedit uno servienti DoYorr portanti diversa brevia die Dominica medie 
xl^* xviijc?. — ^It. soluit Johanni Oemeys, pro curfew sonendo xyjJ. — It ad 
portandum vexillum nostrum et cartas libertatis iiijc^. — It. dedit Johanni 
Wynder eundo apud Hastyngs, pro concilio eorum habendo sub quibus 
sigillis retomabimus apud Dovorr cum indiget Yfd, — It. dedit Jonanni 
Tyson pro labore suo tempore ^erre hoc anno yicf. — ^It. soluit Johanni 
Gotes pro equo suo usque Schipweyam et usque Dovorr ij«. yjrf. — ^It Ro- 
gero de Dovorr, pro expensis suisapud Bellum m}d, — ^It Johanni Wynder 
eundo quater anud Hastyngs, iii apud Ryam, semel apud Bellum iij«. iiiu^. 
— ^It. Roberto Burghamme pro diversis laboribus tempore gwerre ij«. — -It. 
soluit eidem Roberto ad portandum retomum nostrum usque Dovorr, de 
brevibus tangentibus Benedictum Cely viij J. — ^It. Thome Gannok pro equo 
suo usque Dovorr de anno precedente xviijc^. — ^It. pro allocatione domus 
commune' de anno isto vi». viiW. — It. pro compoto Majoris apud London, 
de hoc instante anno xiij«. iiijo. — ^It. Majori pro feodo suo xx«. — ^It clerico 
pro eodem x«. — ^It. servienti pro eodem vij«. vie?. 
Summa v)7e. ij«. ijd. 

Summa totalis xlvij/». xix9. vjd., et sic excedunt receptus expense 

vi/t. xiHJ«. xicL 

It. Walterus Yonge, et Thomas Robynhod debent de vims suis hoc 

finno xiij«. — ^It. idem Thomas debet pro carbonibus prout. . . . . — ^It. Mar- 

gareta Londoneys iij«. m}d, — ^It. Thomas Lang, WUlielmus Lang, et 

n illielmus Smith xiij«. iiijc?. 

The next is a roll of the town accounts from Easter 1399, 
to Easter 1400, (22 Eich. II, and 1 Hen. IV.) 

A membrane lost, the total of xiij/». ixs, yd, alone being preserved. 

It deliberatum Johanni Jakeman, constabulario dicte pro se- 

ipso . . . aliis marinariis at in auro et in victualli. . . . — ^It. sol. uxori .... 

servise* ix«. — ^It. sol. Thome Thondyr' pro duobus barellis de 

flore, et pro pane, et pro pistura dicte panis xxi». xrf. — ^It. sol. pro octo 
barellis beer xxi«. ymd, — ^It. sol. Roberto Holdenne pro uno canLoys de 
came bovine xi*. vjd. — It sol. pro dimidio quaterii de sale xyjcr. — ^It 
deUberat Johanni Jakeman, constabulario dicte navis ut in auro 
xviij*. viije?. 

Summa iiij/t. uijd, 

1 Thatch [?] or shutter. Vide Du-Cange. » Midlent. ^ Sic in orig. 
* Ale brewer. * Most probably for the fitting out of ships. 

27 



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206 HODERX WIKCHELSEA. 



Mem. quod dictus Major et quinque constabularii dictamm quinqnd 
navium emerunt quatuor lestas de beer, pretium le lest xxxk. ; et dictus 
Major et constabularii solverent pro le custumam et dicte quatuor lestas 
de beer fuerunt deliberat. dictis quinquis constabulariis in custuma, in 
toto pretium le lest xxxiii«. iiijc?. — ^It sol. Johanni Gotes pro magno cus- 
tumo v«. xjf?. — ^It sol. Roberto Arnold, pro le petit custumo viij«. 
Summa soL pro le custumo xiijs. idd. 

It. sol. Willielmo Cowpare pro imposicione capitum in pypys, in 
bunnys,* et in barellis, et pro hopys, et pro ligacione eorum iij». xd. — It. 
soL Johanni de Essche, Andree ate Melle, Roberto Fflemyng, "Willelmo 
Wareyner, portatoribus pro cariagio, et pro portagio iiij«. iijrf. — It sol. 
Willielmo ate Grove pro tribus cariagiis ixd. 
Summa viij«. xd. 

It sol. Johanni Tounstalle j)ro octo bifimys iij«. liijd^ — ^It sol. dicto 
Johanni pro quatuor barellis ij«. viijc?. — ^It. sol. Johanni dicto pro tribus 
bunnys emptis de Johanne VeUard xviijc?. — ^It sol. dicto fchanni pro uno 
bunne empto Sewale Crudde Yd. — It sol. dicto Johanni pro uno bunne 
empto de Johanne Perhamme Y}d, — ^It sol. Johanni Perison pro quatuor 
bunnys xvj(/, — ^It. sol. Thome Thondyr, pro uno barell viije/.— It soL 
dicto Majori, pro duobus bunnys xd. — ^It. soL dicto Majori, pro duobus 
barellis xyjc?. — It. sol. dicto Majori, pro uno pype xvd. — ^It. sol. Waltero 
Yong, pro duobus pypecokeris, et pro uno bunne ij«. xd. — It. sol. dicto 

Waltero, pro duobus barellis xiijS. — ^It soL Rogero de , pro uno 

bunne et pro uno barell xd. 

Summa xviij*. ixd. — Summa totalis istius viagii gyvi/e. ij«. virf. 

It. datum uni gaito Dovor portanti unum breve pro Majore, Ballivo, et 
pro sex aliis Juratis die Veneris proxime ante Pentecosten, anno ut supra 
xijd, — It in expensis Majoris, Ballivi, et sex aliorum Juratorum versus 
Dovre, cum tribus servientibus et undecim equis .... In primmn apud 
Apolder in domo Thome Lang, in diversis expensis iij«. vjd — It apud 
Romene in domo Johannis Gardener, ad cenam iij«. x\d, oo. — It. sol. in 
dicta domo pro jjrandio equorum iij«. vjc?. — ^It sol. apud Dovre pro pran- 
dio in domo Ricardi Arnold vj«. mjd, ob. — ^It sol. in dicta domo pro 
prandio equorum iiij«. x\d. — ^It sol. apud Hethe, pro diversis expensis ijs. 
— It. apud Romene in aomo Johanms Gardener, pro cena soluit iiij«. xd» 
— ^It sol. in dicta domo pro prandio equorum iij«. xd, ob, — It. apud 
Apoldere in domo Thome Lang pro jantaculo* sol. ij«. iiijd. — ^It sol. in 
dicta domo''pro prandio equorum ij«. — St. sol. pro passagio octo hominum 
a Wynchelse usque Apoloere et retomo xxd. — ^It sol. pro le yerye^ apud 
Oxene undecim equorum xxije/. — It sol. pro le Verye apud Wynchelse 
dictorum undecim equorum xxijd. — ^It. sol. pro labore trium servientium 
iij«. — ^It. sol. pro allocatione dictorum undecim equorum xviij*. ui\d. oh. 

— It datum eodem tempore locum tenenti Castri Dovorr h, inde 

pars Wynchelse xx». 

Summa iiijfo*. v«. vijc?. 

It. sol. Johanni Tounstalle, pro feodo suox«. vj^. — ^It Roberto Fflemyng, 

pro collectione malitot* xijrf. — It sol. Johanni Elys, pro collectione mah- 

tot camificum xijd. — It. sol. Johanni Thetford pro custodio de orlogio* 

ville v«. — ^It sol. Johanni Gotes communi clerico, pro feodo suo x«. 

Summa xxvij*. vj</. 

Summa totalis istius term-m ggxvifo". xviij«. viij</. 

1 Sort of cask. * Lunch, as we should call it ^ The ferry. 

* A tax on wool. * This is an early notice of a striking clock. 



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MODERN WINCHELSEA. 807 

Expensis comitatis dicte ville, viz., a festo Nativitatis Sancti 
Johannis Baptiste usque ad festum Sancti Michaelis Arch- 
angeli, anno regis Eicardi, vicessimo tertio. 

It. sol. Alano Bxen^ete pro suo labore usque Neddyrfeld iiij<;?. — ^It. sol. 
pro expensis Johannis Tounstalle cum equitavit Domino Willielmo 
Ffynnes milit. pro suggestione facta de Thoma Bette i)ro allec^ viij<;?. — 
It. sol. pro expensis dicti Johannis cum equitavit cum episcopo Cicestrensi 
ad sectandos rumores de Castro de Pevense viijt^. — It. datum uni min- 
strello Regis xxd. — ^It. sol. pro diversis expensis cum Ballivus de Hasting, 
Major de fiia, et duo cleriei cum eis, fuerunt hie apud Wynchelse ad 
copiandam cartam de libertatibus portuum ij«. — It. sol. pro expensis 
Jonannis Tounstalle cum equitavit cum Roberto Yellyng, ad comitem pro 
ponte apud Panelle xx</. — ^It. sol. pro sex "pellibus de percamino xviijc?. 
• Summa viij*. vjd. 

It. datum uni gaito portanti unum breve Brodhull .... ent die Lune 
proxime post festum Sancti Margarete xij^. — ^It. in expensis .... Johan- 
nis Toimstalle ad eundem Brodhell cum tribus servientibus versus 
Romene-In primum apud Lyde in domo Johannis Grange xviijr^. — ^It. sol. 

pro duorum equorum, versus Lyde ijd. — ^It. soL pro cena apud 

Komene in domo Johannis Gardener ij«. viijrf. — ^It. sol. in-eadem domo in 

mane pro prandio iiij*. — ^It!. sol. pro e(juo Johannis Tounstalle in 

dicta domo xije?. — ^It. pro allocatione unius equi a Romene usque Snergate, 
et pro reductione dicti equi usque Romene sol. vjc?. — It. sol. pro alloca- 
tione unius batelli a Wmchelse usque ad Camere,* et a Camere usque 
ad Snergate iiJ5. iiijc?. — ^It. sol. pro duobus servientibus xvi«?. — ^It. sol. pro 
allocatione equi Johannis Tounstalle xijd — It. sol. pro le Veryes et pro 
diversis expensis dicti equi vj«?. 

Summa xvij«. 

It. datum uni gaito Dovorr portanti unum breve, pro uno concilio tento 
apud Dovre die Bominica proxime post festum Sancti Jacobi ApostoU 
xij«?. — ^It. in expensis Majoris et Ballivi cum q^uatuor Juratis dicte ville 
et tribus servientibus, et ix equorum. — In pnmum apud Apoldore, in 
diversis expensis iij«. — It sol. apud Romene in domo Johannis Gardener 
ad cenam vis. mjd. — ^It. sol. in dicta domo pro prandio equorum ij«. Yjd. 
— ^It. apud Dovre in mane ad jantaculmh yjs. ijd. — ^It. ibidem ad prandium 
v«. ixd. — It. ibidem pro prandio equorum iij«. vjc?. — ^It. in redeundo apud 
Romene in domo Johannis Gardener sol. pro cena iiij«. ujd. — ^It. ibidem 
sol. pro prandio equorum in dicta domo iij». iiijd. — It. sol. pro jantaculo 
et pro prandio equorum iij*. — ^It. pro le Veiyes apud Oxene et apud Win- 
chelse, equorum et novem hominum iij«. — It. sol. pro tribus servientibus 
iij«. — ^It. pro allocatione novem equorum xv«. 

Summa iijfo". .... yid. 

It sol. Vincent Vynch pro sua moracione apud Romene ad cognoscendum 
utrum illi de portions orientalibus vellent mandare London, pro navibus 
in servicio Domini Regis ij«. ijd. — ^It. sol. dicto Vincentio pro allocatione 
Domus Regis vj«. viij<?. — ^It tradit. Waltero Yong, Bailivo Jememuthe 
iij/t.j et dimidie. 

Summa iij7e. xviij«. iiij«?. 

1 Pickled herrings. ' The Camber. 



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208 MODERN WINCHELSEA. 

It. sol. Johanni Tbunstal pro feodo suo x«. vjd — ^It Roberto Flemyng 
pro collectione 'maletot xij J. — It. Johanni Elys pro collectione maletot 

caraificum idjd, — ^It. Alano [ ] pro custodio orlogii ville v«. — ^It. 

Johanni Gotes pro feodo suo X8. 

Summa xxvij*. yjd. — Sununa istius termini iuli, ids, Yiiid, 

In dorso. Expensis comitatis dicte ville a festo Sancti Mi- 
chaelis^ anno regis Ricardi secundi^ xxiijo.^ usque ad festum 
Natalis Domini anno regis Henrici quarti^ primo.^ 



It datum cuidam gait Dovorr portanti breve pro Parliamento tento 
. . . Sancti Michaelis, apud Westmonsterium xijc?. — ^It in expensis Willi- 
ehni Skele et Ro^eri de Gate cum famulis .... ibidem commorantibus 
per quinque Septmiinas v}lu — ^It. sol. dicto Willielmo pro sua moracione 
ibidem per tres Septiminas postea cum suo famulis, pro *toto Westportu 
pro suis expensis xxxviij*. yjd — ^It sol. dicto WUnelmo pro diversis, 
expensis circa campanillos et lanceas ^ xxiiij«. inde pare nostra yj«. — ^It 
sol. .... Barbour pro suo labore, et pro sua moracione ibidem ix Septi- 
minas apud dictum Parliamentum v*. — It sol. dicto Willielmo Skele pro 

allocatione .... equorum London et retro x«. — It sol uni equi 

Hogero .... London xs. 

Summa ix/t. x«. vjc?. 

It ... . cum duobus Juratis et duobus servientibus apud Riam pro . . . 
Gesteling, ibidem tent die Mercurii post festum Omnium Sanctorum t«. — 
It pro uno batello Apeldore et retro viijc?. — ^It in expensis Johannis 

Micnell cum veniebat ad recipiandum ballivam de Wynchelse, 

nomine Johannis Lodewyke in domo Thome Bente iiij«. ijd, — ^It sol. pro 
diversis expensis die Dominita proxime post festum Sancti Martini, cum 
solucione Roberto Ffryshlake, !Ballivo, pro balliv^ suk pro primo termino 
iiij*. vj«?. 

Summa xiiij«. iiijc?. 

It. sol. Laurencio de parte boriali pro suo labore usque Hastyngs, por- 
tanti literam jpro uno Brodhull, tento die Jovis in festo Sancti Edmundi 
Archiepiscopi Cantuarie apud Romene iiij<;?. — It. in expensis Walteri 
Yong, Johannis Jakeman, et servientium eorum ad eundem Brodhull 
vj«. y]d, — ^It. sol. pro le Verys apud Winchelse de tribus equis YJd. — It 
sol. pro labore Rooerti Burghamme .... equitante nocte ad contraman- 
dandam quondam Schypweyam xij<;?. — ^It. sol. pro allocatione .... ad 
eundem Brodhull iij«. 

Summa xis, mjd. 

It dat cuidam gait. Dovorr portanti breve de Schypweya xijrf. — ^It sol. 
ad eandem Schypweyam pro expensis Majoris cum tribus Juratis, et tribus 
servientibus apud Apolder, in domo Thome Lang vj«. uijd. — ^It. ad Romene 
nro cena vj«. iijd. — ^It in eodem loco pro prandio x equorum iiij«. vjc?. — 
't. ad jantaculum in eodem loco ij«. \id. — It apud Romene pro diversis 

expensis iij«. — ^It apud Romene et diversis expensis iiij«. xd, — It 

pro ferrura duorum equorum iiijd — ^It apud Apoldre, in domo Thome 
Lang, pro cena v«. xd, — ^It. ibidem pro prandio equorum iijs. ijd. — ^It 
sol. prole Verys apud Oxene pro dictis x equis xxd, — ^It. sol. pro le Verys 

1 Richard 11 abdicated 30th Sept, 1399. 
. ' Probably for bells and staves for the canopy at the Coronation. 



£ 



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MODERN WINCHELSEA. 209 



apud Wynchelse pro dictis x equis JLxd, — It. sol. pro quodam batello a 
Wynchelse ad Apolder et retro xnd. — ^It. pro labore trium servientium 
ij«. vj«?. — ^It. pro allocatione x emiorum ad Schypweyam vidlt, pro jjuolibet 
equo xvj«?., summa xiij«. iiij«?. — It. dat. custodi nostro pro promissione sua 
centum marcas, et locum tenento x marcas, et aliis omciariis quinque 
marctis inde pars nostra xij/t. xv«. vi\d. — ^It. sol. pro batello viij«?. 
Summa xva. xiiij«. xd. 

It. sol. Johanni TounstaUe pro feodo suo de isto termino x». \\d, — ^It. 
Roberto Flemynge pro collectione maletote xijc?. — It. Johanni Elis pro 

collectione maletote camiiicum xijc?. — ^It. Johanni endenne pro ous- 

todio de orlogio ville v«. — It. Johanni .... clerico pro feodo suo x«. 
Simmia xxvijs. Yjd, 

Expensis comitutis dicte ville a festo Natalis Domini, anno 
regis Henrici^quarti, primo, usque ad festum Pasche proxime 
futuro eodem anno. 

In pnmum datum cuidam .... Dovorr portanto breve Domini Kegis, 
pro collectoribus subsidii et duodecim denariorum die Veneris, in festo 
Sancti Stephani xij«?. — ^It. sol. Roberto Burghamme portanti retomum 
dicti brevis ad Castrum Dovorr ij«. — It. dat. cuidam nuncio portanti breve 
pro imo Brodhull, tento apud Romene die Lune proxime post festum 
Epiphanie Domini iiij<:?. — ^It. in expensis ibidem Johannis Saleme, Willi- 
elmi Skele, jun., cum duobus servientibus vij«. x«?. — It. dat. per manus 
Johannis Saleme cuidam gaito Dovorr portajiti breve Domini Regis de 
passagio xijd. — It sol. pro labore duorum servientium cum eis xvjS. — ^It. 
sol. pro uno batello pro eis, bina vice, ad Cameram xyujd, 

Summa xv«. 

It. sol. pro uno batello Roberti Warde ad Cameram, ad arrestand. naves, 
per virtute brevis Domini Regis, prima vice iiij«. vijd. — ^It. sol. eodem 
modo, secunda vice, pro batello cum x hominibus ad Cameram xliiijc?. 
— It. sol. eodem modo, tertia vice, pro batello cum xij hominibus 
iiijs. iiijd — It. sol. pro expensis dictorum ix,^ hominum xd, — ^It. dat. 
cuidam liuncio portanti breve pro uno Brodhull, tento apud Romene die 
Jovis proxime ante festum Purificatione Beate Marie iiij«?. — ^It. in expen- 
sis ibidem Majoris Vincencii Vynch, Walteri Yong, cum tribus servientibus 
xijs. xd. — ^It. ibidem dat. cuidam gaito Dovorr portanti breve Domini 
Riegis ad arraiandum homines ad arma'* xijd, — ^It. sol. pro tribus servienti- 
bus ijs. — ^It. pro allocatione trium equorum Vyncencii Vynch iij». — It. sol. 
pro allocatione duorum equorum a Romene usque ad Snergate, et pro 
reduccione ad Romene et retro xd. — ^It. sol. pro uno bateUo cum iiij 
marinariis ad Romene, et ibidem expectantibus pro ima nocte, et duos 
dies videlt pro quolibet marinario \jd., et pro batello x«?., et pro Very 
equorum xixd. — Summa totalis iiij«. \d, 

Summa xxxvij«. xd. 

It. dat. duobus nunciis ad portandum duas literas, unam ad Riam, et 
alteram ad Hastings, pro uno Gestelyng tento apud Hastings, die Jovis 
proxime post festum Purificationis \ujd. — It. in expensis ibidem Vincentii 
Vynch, Rogeri de Gate, et Johannis Tounstall, cum duobus servientibus 
iij«. ixd, — ^ft. sol. pro duobus servientibus viijrf. — It. sol. pro allocacione 
quinque equorum ibidem ij«. ij«?. — It. sol. cuidam gaito Dovorr portanti, 

^ Sic in orig. ^ gjc. 



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210 MODERN WINCHELSEA. 



breve Domini Regis ad traducendum naves versus Gales cum victualibus 
carcatas jdyi. — ^It sol. Roberto Mostardo pro porta^o cujusdam brevis 
locum tenenti Castri Dovorr, pro licentio traducendi naves ij«. — ^It. sol. 
pro uno batello ad Cameram ad arrestandum unam Francigenam et 
flanderensem cum xiij hominibus iiij«. viijcf. — ^It. sol pro uno batello, 
alia vice, cum ix hominibus ad Cameram eodem modo iij«. ui^d. — ^It. sol. 
pro uno batello cum viij hominibus, tercia vice, ad Cameram ad arrestandum 
naves, et pro eorum expensis uj«. iijcf. — ^It. sol. pro papiro et jpo cero xijcf. 
— ^It. sol. pro batello aa Cameram, quarto vice, cum xij, hominibus ad ar- 
restandum naves, et pro eorum expensis vij«. viij(f. 
Summa xxx«. \id. 

It. sol. Ricardo Carp .... pro se et duobus famuHs suis ad scindendum 
Quendam arborem in cimiteno Sancti Egidii, ad faciendum pavys ^ de eo 
iiij*. ijrf. — It. sol. Waltero Flemyng pro le sawnyng de dicto arbore videlt 
pro vc ^*, et x^. pedes de bordys pro targis, pretium; le centum xwd. 

Summa viij«. i^d, — It. sol. Willielmo Prune pro emendacione duorum muro- 
rum qui ceciderunt cum dicto arbore xvrf. — ^It. sol. pro duobus batellis cum 
xxvi nominibus ad Cameram ad arrestandum quatuor Castellanos, et ad 

Sortandum vela navium illorum ad terram viij«. idd. — ^It. sol. pro portagio 
e velis illorum a mare ad ecclesiam Sancti Thome, etpro portagio de 
hamasio illorum ad terram xxxcf. — It. sol. pro labore Edwardi Hopyare 
et Austini Dertemuthe, bina vice, ad Xenele xijd — ^It. sol. pro batello 
Roberti Warde cum viij hominibus ad querendum duas naves extra le 
Podele ad villam, et iiij bonettas ^ de homine de Campan iij«. xd. — It. sol. 
dicto Roberto pro batello suo ad querendum tres Donettas de quedam 
homine de Rocnelle extra le Podell ad terram xijrf. — It. sol. pro batello 
Willielmi Ffolde cum xv hominibus ad querendum quendam Franciscum 
ad terram, qui fugiebat extra portum ad mare vij«. viijrf. — ^It sol. pro 
expensis dictorum xv hominum in dicto bateUo xijc?. 
Summaxxxixtf. Yid. 

It. tradit. per manus Majoris Vincentii Vynch ad prosequendum ad 
concilium Domini Regis, London, pro renovacione carte de libertate 
nostra cum aliis hommibus Eastportubus viij/t. ys. viijc?. — ^It. sol. pro 
labore Roberti Burghamme ad Neddvrfelde, ad portandum dictum aurum 
dicto Vincentio Vynch* xd. — ^It. sol. pro allocatione unius equi dicto 
Roberto ad Neddyrfelde, ad idem tempus viijrf. — It. sol. dicto Roberto 
pro peticione monete ad Riam pro dicta renovacione carte nostre iiijrf. — 
It. dat cuidam gayto portanti breve pro BrodhuU, tento die Lune prox- 
ime post festum Sancti Mathei Apostoli iiijc?. — ^It. in expensis ibidem 
Roberti Arnold, Rogeri de Gate, cum famulo eorum yj«. xd. — It. pro 
labore Johannis Lynoreffg famuli illorum ibidem Yiijd. — ^It. sol. pro alloca- 
tione trium equorum xffic et retro iij*. — ^It. sol. Thome Bre^ar pro 
quadam proclamacione facta quod extranei non spaciarent in ^a post 
certam horam orlogii in nocte ' ijrf. — ^It. dat. cuidam gaito Dovorr portanti 
breve, pro Majpri et Ballivo ad computandum London, coram Baronibus 
de Scaccario Domini Regis xijrf. — ^It. sol. Vincent Vynch pro allocatione 
Domus Regis vi«. yii^d. 

Summa ix/». vi«. ijc?. 

We have not discovered any account of the receipts of the 
town; but from the foregoing accounts, we may infer that they 
arose principally from port dues. 

1 Shields. » Sails. > This is a very curious entry. 



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MODERN WINCHELSEA. 211 

Corporation Disputes. — The abuses in the Corporation 
were rife in the days of James I, and the attempt to monopo- 
lise power was as strong as in the times of William TV ; 
although, in the 17th century, there was a more summary 
mode of settling corporation disputes, as to the choice of their 
officers, than by applyinff to the Court of Queen's Bench for 
a mandamus or quo warranto, as is evident from a letter 
addressed to the mayor and jurats in 1609, communicated in 
1816 to the Society of Antiquaries,^ by Mr. William Bray, 
the treasurer. 

A letter to the Mat/or and Jurats of the Town of Winchehea for the 
time being, 

■Whereas uppon complaint heretofore made both to this Boorde and mito 
o' very good Lord, the Lo. Warden, in particular, of many defects and 
disorders crept into yo' corporacon by a strong combinacon of a few 
factious persons that had ingrossed ye govemmt thereof into their owne 
hands, who would admitt noe encrease in nomber, either of juratts or 
freemen, whereby the scope in the eleccon of the mayor might be more 
large, wch wtis then (amongst many other) a mayne greevaunce to the 
inhabitants, the place having att that tyme bene for many yeares together 
supplyed only by three ; for reformacon whereof we addressed o' Ires for 
election to be made into y* office for ye yeare following of Thomas Pelham, 
the only juratt yt had bene held out of that place, while ye mayrolty was 
contynued in three. But in ye last yeares election, whether out of ignou- 
ranee or perswacon wee know not, wee are informed ye freemen swarved 
from our scope and intencon, and contrary to the Lord Warden's exp'sse 
comaundmt made choyce of one into that office yt was neither antientest 
juratt, nor yet capable of any govemmt, being before suspended by his 
Lopp., and the mayor inhibited to call him to ye Bench, who, under 
p'tence of seigniority, as being sometymes a juratt, (wch place he had 
many yeares before waved and given ov) challenged to himself a right by 
relacon.to ye time of his first admittance, wch was long before lost. 
Forasmuch as it is thought fitt, that in ye successive election of the mayor, 
the juratts should from henceforth be chosen to succeede in that office by 
seigniority and place of eldershipp, as they are in order of auntientnesse 
recorded in ye towne booke kept for that purpose, and have held and 
exercised y* place Vthout discontinuance according to ye example of 

1 Arch. vol. 18, pp. 291-3. 



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JJ.12 MODERN WINCHELSEA. 

Romney and Sandwch, as y« best meanes to establishe peace, and to cntt 
of y« cause of envye and partiallity (ye seedes of yt dissencon) wch hath 
bene soe long and soe unhappily nourished amongst yow. These are, 
therefore, to require yow to observe ye said orders for ye better govememt 
of ye towne and reformacon of former abuses, unlesse it shall happen 
yt just cause of excepcon may be taken to ye partie, wch by y^ course is 
to be elected.. And whereas we are informed yt Paul Wymond, an aun- 
tient juratt, is a yery honest discrete man, and fitt to be chosen for this 
yeare following : we have thought good, for avoyding of variannce at 
this tyme, to recomend unto yow ye said Wymond to be chosen mayor att 
yor next election, not doubting but both in respect of or recomendacon 
and to shew yorselves conformable to these or directcons, yow will not only 
make choice of the said Paul Wymonde^ to be mayor this yeare, but alsoe 
have care that hereafter ye juratts successively from him downewards, 
according to every man's seigniority as they have bene elected and re- 
corded in ye towne booke, and exercised their place wthout discontinuance 
(not admitting of any antiquity by relacon to any former admittance 
waved before, and lost in all true construccon of law) be elected to ye 
office of mayor, except some sufficient cause be first alleadged to the 
contrary unto or very good Lord, the Lo. Warden, before ye election. 
And soe, &c. 

Dat 190 Aprill, 1609. 

Concordat cum Registro, Jo. Corbett. 

Signed by six of the Lods. Councell, viz.: Lo. Threr., Lo. Pri. Seale, 
Lo. Admirall, Lo. Chamberlayne, Earl of Worcester, Lo. Wotton. 

Additional light is thrown upon this dispute with the 
Council, the mode of conducting the corporate affairs, and the 
value of the corporation property at this period, from the 
diary of Mr. Thomas Godfrey ,2 who came to reside here at 
this time. He says. 

On Sunday, the 30th of Aprill, 1609, 1 was made a freeman of Win- 
chellsea, no one man giveing his voice against me, and on Tuesday after I 
was, together with Mr. Thos. Greene, employed by the Corporacon, who 
allowed us 5s. apeece per diem to goe to London to our Lord Warden to 
deliver a pettision from them, and to make intersession for them in theire 

^ Who afterwards acted so partially in his office that he was committed 
by the House of Commons. 
^Lands.MSS., 235,p. 2. 



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MODERN WINCHELSEA. 213 

disobeying of the Lords of the Councell, lately concerning the elleccon 
of theire mayor, at wch time we brought down from my Lord the orders 
of succession in that office ; and at the next assembly, being the ninth 
of May, 1609, according to those orders, I was swome a jurat, Wm. Bishop 
being mayor ; in which orders it was comanded that, notwithstanding, 
though Mr. Farmer and Mr. Cooper had been long on the Bench, yett 
Mr. Greene and myselfe were to take the place of them, and to be mayors 
in succession before them, and then likewise was it decided that thoe 
Mr. Eglistone had been a jurat formerly, yett he was to come after Mr. 
Boteler, who was elected together with him, the second time that he was 
called and swome before him, for it was decreed by y« Lords of the 
Councell, that Eglistone cou*d have no relation to his being a jurat 
formerly, in respect that he waived the Bench voluntary. 

The 16th of June, 1609, being one of the auditors, who for that 
purpose were chosen at an assembly before' We took y« accompts of the 
old, the chamberlains who were in the yeare that Mr. AVhite was 
mayor, viz., Wm. Rayman and Abednigo Standen, at the house of Thos. 
Cobb, at ye sign of the Square, whose receipts for that yeare upon true 
acco* came to £303 18s. 8d. q., and theire paymts £184 6s. 2d. ob., besides 
£20 8s. 3d. that they reced in allowances for, the rest was £99 4s. 2d. ob. q. 

At the Brotherhood, held this yeare at Romney, Mr. White was fined 

£10 for returning of Mr. Cooper a jurat into the King's when he 

was mayor, and for other speeches wch he had used against the Brother- 
hood. 

There was returned to the Brotherhood and Guestling holden at New 
Rumney, ye 24th July, 1610, from Winchelsea, Mr. Robt. Boteler, gent., 
mayor of the town, Mr. John Egliston, gent., myself, and Mr. Francis 
Whitton, gent., jurats of y« same town ; Tho. Isted, gent, com. clerk ; 
Wm. Wimond, chamberlain ; Abednigo Standen, freemen. 

Memdm that the ■ of Aprill, 1610, 1 being the Mayor's Deputy, 

Geo. Brooks was disfranchised by a generall consent, for many matters 
alledged openly against him in court. 

I was chosen to be one of the auditors for ye chamberlains' accompts, 
in anno, 1610, which was deferred till the 3rd of Augs*, by reason of 
some differences, w<* till then were not decided: we kept it at Mrs. 
Standing at ye King's Arms : wee found the totall receipts of that yeare 
to be £251 13s. Id. q., the payments £92 2s. 2d,, and £16 4s. lOd. ob. q., 
which they reced in allowances, the which added to the former maketh 
the totall payments to be J^108 7s. ob. q., the which taken out of ye re- 
ceipts of £251 13s. Id. q., the rest wherewith the new chamberlains stand 
charged is J^149 6s. ob. 



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214 MODERN WINCHELSEA. 

The promise of amendment^ like many other promises^ was 
made to be broken. Ten years only elapsed before the Cor- 
poration asserted their right to remove from the list of freemen, 
all such as (having been admitted) should remove from the 
town and cease to be liable to the local taxes : and they were 
obliged to justify their conduct to the Lord Warden, which 
they did in the following letter.* 

Rt. Honble. our very good Lorde. — It pleased your Honor to 
direct unto us your Ires of the 24th of May, (wch came the 20th of this 
present) concerning Mr Robt. Butler,* Lieut of Camber Castle, wherein 
(as in all things) we desire to shew ourselves most ready to be commanded 
by your Lp., humbly desiring your lAv. to understand the truth of our 
cause, wch is, that we never disinfiranchised the said Mr. Butler. But 
there is an ancient usage and custome of our towne, that if any freeman 
do remove his dwelling out of our towne, and the liberties thereof, by the 
space of a year and a dale, he loseth his freedom, and is as if he never 
had been free. Mr. Butler, by the space of two years together, did 
remove his dwelling out of our towne to the Camber Castle, (which is 
within our liberties but not of them) and was no advocate of our towne, 
neither paid any lot, scot, or taxe there ; whereupon at an assembly there 
was an order made, the said Mr. Butler not to have pasturage in our 
commons, that yeare nor thereafter, without a new graunte ; never (since) 
which time (till nowe of late) hath he desired to be of the corporation 
againe, but hath published to many that he was glad that he was out of 
our company, and that he wd not for £40, be of it againe: also he hath 
dissuaded others from being, or bearing office in this corporation, and hath 
joined himself to those, who seek our hurte: especially we do humbly 
desire your Honble. Ldp. to consider, that if Mr. Butler be made a free- 
man here, he is capable of the office of the receipt of the revenues of our 
poor towne, and having another place so fitly to resort unto, may go away 
with all, without any accompt: or may tarry here to take the benefit of 
the commons from divers poor men, (which have comfort thereby) and 
when any charge cometh may withdraw himself, and thus committing our 
cause to your Ho. : consideration, praying to ^e Lord to preserve your 

1 Addl. MS., 5705, p. 157, stated to be transcribed from the MSS. of 

Sir Charles Hedges, Judge of the in the possession of Wm. 

Macham, L.L.D., a member of the Coll. of Advocates, Drs. Corns., 1771, 
No. 358. 

~ The name should be Boteler, 



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MODERN WINCHELSEA. 215 

Honor, in helth, to his good pleasure, to the happiness of this kingdom, 
we rest your Honor's much bounden. 

Wynch., 22 June, 1620. 

The Mayor, Jurates, and Comminaltye of Winchelsea. 

Addressed, 

To the right honie £dw. Ld. Zouch St. Maure Cantelupe, Ld. Warden, 
Chancellor, and Admiral of the Cinque Ports, and 2 Ancient Townes, with 
their members, and one of the Lords of his Maj.'s honble. Privy Councel ; 
give these. % 

For a time matters in the Corporation were peaceably con- 
ducted; but about 1760, Mr. Arnold Nesbit^ purchased 
property in and near the town, and the fiercest contests were 
carried on. 

In 1766, came on before Lord Mansfield, the celebrated 
Winchelsea Causes,* in which the Court of the King's Bench, 
was, for the first time, clearly of opinion that twenty years was 
the neplus ultra y beyond which the court would not disturb 
a peaceable possession of a franchise ; but that in every case 
within twenty years their interference would depend upon the 
particular circumstances of the case before them. There had 
been a great many rules nisi for quo warrantos; but after this 
opinion of the court, four only remained. One was against 
Edwin Wardroper, who had been in possession for nineteen 
years and eight months after re-election, (made for greater cau- 
tion) and for twenty-seven years from his original election: 
the relators had voted at his election of mayor : and this rule 
was discharged with costs : another rule was against Nathaniel 
Dawes, who had been nineteen and half years in quiet posses- 
sion : the third, and strongest case, was that of Richard 
Wardroper, who was elected a freeman on 13th May, 1760, 
against whom the aflBldavit was sworn on 4th Nov., 1766 ; this 
rule was also discharged: and the fourth rule was against 
Thomas Marten. Mr. Dawes had been elected a freeman on 

* An entry is made in 1769, of his being admitted a freeman, and every 
earlier hundred book has disappeared ! 
2 Burrow's Reports, vol. 4, pp. 1962, 2022, and 2120. 



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216 MODERN WINCHELSEA. 

22nd September^ 1747; he did not then reside^ but soon after 
his election he hired a house in the town, and had dwelt 
there ever since, with his wife and family: had served all the 
parish offices: two of the three informers were present at his 
election and voted for it: he had generally voted at all the 
assemblies at the same time with all the three informers, 
none of whom had objected till within the preceding nine 
months: he had served the office of jurat from the year 1756 : 
and had been twice mayor, to which office he was, in 1762, 
elected unanimously. Marten had been elected a freeman on 
1st October, 175S: he had ever afterwards attended and voted 
without any objection, even from the informers, though they 
knew he was not rated at the time of his election. The court 
discharged the rules on the grounds ; Firstly : That the objec- 
tions did not lie in the relators' mouths, as they all knew, 
the constitution of the borough, and had voted with the 
defendants, and had acted with them, and had assented to 
many persons deriving rights under Dawes : 

"They come now," said Lord Mansfield, "to complain of their own 
iniquity : they come to set aside effects of which they themselves have 
been the cause : they come to desire that they may represent the King 
to prosecute guilt of which they themselves are partakers : they have 
laid a snare for the Corporation : drawn it into error : and, after having 
been temptors, desire to put on the character of accusers. Non tali auxilio, 
nee defensoribua istia. The cause of the king and the public, for the usur- 
pation of a franchise, ought not to be trusted in such hands." Secondly ; 
because they shewed no right or interest of their own or of any other 
^person which depended upon invalidating the title of Dawes ; but the 
objection was such, that so far as the borough or the crown was con- 
cerned, it had been substantially cured ever since his election, and no new 
constitution had been usurped upon the crown : it would be acting with 
the utmost rigour of the summum Jtis, if the King himself were to pry 
with eagle eyes into such defect ; and certainly ought not to be indulged 
by the court ^ to private informers, accomplices in the usurpation. And 



1 This has now grown to be the admitted practice of the court. Rex v. 
Parry, 6 Ad. and Ellis, 821, • 



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MODERN WINCHELSEA. 217 

thirdly ; the consequences of granting the applipation might be fatal to 
the borough, and the example thereby set, that men might lie in wait and 
lay a scheme for many years to draw a corporation into acts which they 
may afterwards, for occasional and corrupt views, turn to their destruc- 
tion. The parliament had entrusted the court with the authority to give 
h private informer leave to prosecute the usurpation of a franchise in the 
King's name ; but the court were all clearly and unanimously of opinion 
that these informers ought not to have that leave, and that " it never 
ought to be granted to any informers, who shall appear under all the same 
circimistances in the same unfavourable light." 

Mr. Nesbit, who was the real cause of these disputes, had 
been returned as member, on the government interest, in 1754, 
and was content enough with the state of the Corporation at 
that time : but by purchases of land, he established an interest 
independent of the Treasury ; and it was after an attack, in 
1762, upon his interest, by the treasury, under the auspices of 
the Earl of Egremont, who, in that year, had purchased Mr. 
Carryll's property, that the assumed defects in the title of the 
different members of the corporation to theii: offices were 
brought forward. During these contests, and to raise money 
for the defence of the Corporation, the town clerk, Mr. 
Wardroper, pledged the original Customal^ to Mr. Wilson, 
(the charters had been surrendered temp. Chas. I, to Sir E. 
Dering, for the then Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports.) It is 
said to have been redeemed from him; but it has never re-ap- 
peared; and when the last attempt was made, in 1830, to obtain 
" the freedom of the town for all the inhabitants paying scot 
and lot, and residing for a year and a day, the non-production 
was not inconvenient for the ruling body. 

We print this Customal from a copy preserved and printed 
in Lyons' History of Dover Castle, &c.^ He does not state, 
however, where the original was. 

* At a Guestling held at Dover, 17th Eliz., (1574) in reference to disputes 
with the city of London, among the customals there was read "an 
ancyent roulle in parchment for Winchelsey." Boys' Sandwich, p. 776. 

2 Lyons* Dover, vol. 2, p. 370. 



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218 MODERN WINCHBLSEA. 

THE CUSTOMAL OF THE TOWN AND PORT OF 
WINCHELSEA. 

1. Chtmng of Mayor, — ^Every year, the Monday after Easter, all the 
inhabitants assemble in a certain place called the hundred, and there, by 
common consent shall chuse a mayor. In case the mayor that is chosen 
be not present, to accept his charge, the mayor that was before shall not 
be discnarged, until the other be charged by his predecessor. 

2. Punishment of the Mayor for not acceptina the office, and his oath, 
— ^If the mayor that is chose absent himself, and will not accept and re- 
ceive his charge, all the whole commons shall go and shut in his chief 
tenement. But if the mayor that is chosen be present, and will his 
charge accept, he shall ,be charged, and swear thus: — 

I, A. B. shall bear faith to our Sovereign Lord the King of England, 
and to the commonalty of WincheLsea, and the franchises and usages of 
the same rightfully shall maintain, and the common profit shall keep ; 
and to rich and poor shall do right, as near as can be. So help me. 

And in case the mayor die before the yearly election, the twelve sworn 
men here, in course, to the same shall do their turns, until the time be in 
the year, for the assembly to chuse another mayor; then he so chose 
shall do his office, until the day of election. And in this case, the mayor 
charged shall be one of the best of the twelve sworn men. 

3. Appointing Jurats. — Also the mayor shall chuse the same day, 
twelve sworn men, the most wise within the town, the which shall swear 
to the King, and die commons; and shall chuse a common clerk, which 
shall swear to the commonalty, and shall bear faith to all the said com- 
mons, and truly their councils shall keep to his power. 

Also, the same day tlie mayor shall chuse a sere^eant, the which shall do 
his charge in manner as follows. That he shall bear faith to the mayor, 
and the commonalty, and duly shall do execution, as appertaineth to his 
office, after the usage used in the town in times passed. So help me God, 
and All Saints. * 

4. Cf receiving a Bailiff, — ^In the right of the bailiff, the king may 
remove at his will; and in case the bailiff die, or the king remove him 
from his office, then the king shall send his commission, with a writ of 
attendage, to the mayor and jurats, under the seal of the Chancery; the 
which bailiff shall shew his commission to the mayor and jurats, and after 
that, shall be accepted, and charged by the mayor, and nis charge shall 
be this : — 

By the allegiance you owe to the Sovereign Lord the King, that you do 
due execution and right, without blemish of the franchise, after the usage 
used in old time m the town, as is aforesaid. 

And after that, the bailiff shall chuse a sergeant, for which he shall 
answer, who shall be charged. 

5. Of the Coroner, and his office, — Item, in case a man be found dead 
within the franchise, by misadventure, or by deed of any man, by land or 
water, the mayor shall have sight of the body, as coroner, and the bailiff 
do come a countie; at which countie the mayor shall make an inquest of 
the death of the body present. Anon, the mayor, as coroner, shall charge 
the bailiff for to attach the indicted, and if he may be found, he shall be 
brought into the ward of the bailiff within the franchise; but if that the 
indicted may find, after his imprisonment, sufficient mainprise for to be at 
the law, the bailiff shall let go to the same, until a himdred be ordained 
by the mayor and bailiff, at which hundred the indicted shall come, and 



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MODERN WINCHELSBU. 219 



shall be arraigned of the felony, and there shall be proclamation made by 
the mayor and bailiff; and there if any will come to pursue in due 
form against the indicted of felony of above said, that he come; and if 
none do come for to pursue, then be it returned, till proclamation be 
made, in the same form, by two hundreds after; and if none do come at 
the third hundred, that wUl pursue the indicted, he shall go quit of his 
indictment. And be it for to wit, that no hundred shall be holden after 
the other less than fifteen days. And if any come to pursue against the 
indicted, by appeal, and the mdicted be arraigned of the felony, and if he 
say nay in the felony, then he be charged by the mayor to have his acquit- 
tance, in manner as follows : that is to wit ; thirty-six men of his own 
province, of good fame in the liegance of England, that they be ready at 
the next hundred that to him shall be assigned; the which thirty-six men 
the apellor shall take their names written, into the hands of the bailiff, 
and uie common clerk shall read their names, as shall do every appealed ; 
and if any of the thirty-six men be in default, or answer not for him who 
is appealed of the felony, be he adjudged to death, to be hanged at the 
gallows. 

6. Acquittance of a Felon, — It is ordained, in the usages of Winchelsea, 
that when a man ought to be acquitted by thirty-six men, that first tiie 
names of the thirty-six men shall be delivered to the bailiff by the man 
who is appealed, in writing; and those thirty-six men ought to be called 
by their names; and if any of them, when called, be absent and answer 
not, then the man that is appealed shall be put to death. And if they all 
appear, and answer by name, the which being called, then of the Eling*s 
gr£u;e that shall be the best twelve of the said thirty-six men, and me 
grace of the mayor; and of the sworn men, twelve, so that the mayor and 
bailiff of them all chuse twelve, the which left them, to swear what lie 
man who is appealed shall swear on a book, that he is not guilty of that 
which he is appealed of, as God him help, and the Holy Church, and so 
kiss the book. 

After that, the twelve men that have been chosen to swear, shall confirm 
the same oadi, that the man appealed made, and so the man appealed to 
quit. 

If any of the twelve men withdraw their hands, and will not swear, 
then shall he who is appealed be put to death; and if he be acquit, then 
shall the apellor be attached, by his body, and all his goods, to the will of 
the king. All men condemned in this manner, shall be hanged in the 
Salt Marsh, on the north side of the town of Winchelsea, in the saltwater 
of the same town. 

7. Holding of Pleas, Treason excepted. — ^Also, all manner of the pleas 
of the coroner, of life and member, may be determined and ended before 
the mayor, bailiff, and jurats, within the said liberties of the said town of 
Winchelsea, out-take tne plea of counterfeitors of the King's coin, and of 
the King's seal; and also except the plea of those who imagine the King 
or the Queen's death; the which pleas appertain and belong to the Court 
of Shepway. But such manner of pleas of the coroner, of life and mem- 
ber, ought to be taken in the whole hundred. 

8. Sancttiary. — ^Also, if any man flee to Holy Church, the mayor, as 
coroner, shall go to him, and of him know the cause of his flying ; and 
if he will the felony ackiiowledge, by the recognizance registered, or en- 
rolled, anon he shall leave all his goods and chattels as forfeited, of which 
the bailiff shall answer to the king ; and he shaH dwell in the church, if 
he will, forty days, and he shall chuse the port or passage where he will 
pass ; and if he will make abjuration before the forty days ended, he shall 



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220 MODERN WINCHELSEA. 



be accepted. And anon, after his abjuration he shall take his cross, and 
the mayor shall make proclamation on the king's behalf, that no man, 
upon forfeiture of life and member, do him any evil, or grievance, inas- 
much as he him holdeth in the highway towards the said port. 

9. Of admitting Freemen, — ^Also, may the mayor and jurats make 
men free in such manner ; that if any stranger come to "Winchelsea, to 
dwell there, having lawful craft, and being of good conversation, for a 
year and a day, and desirous to be of the franchise, come before the mayor 
and jurats, in open assembly, beseeching to be of the fi^mchise ; ujyon 
which award, he shall pay to the comen of the franchise, having which 
award only, and his name shall be written in the common register, and 
after he shall take his oath : — 

I shall faith and true bear, and true man be, unto the King of 
England, and to the commonalty of the town of Winchelsea, from this 
da); forward; and the estate of the common franchise to my power shall 
maintain ; and scott and lott of my goods and chattels shall pay. So 
God me help, and All Saints. And so kiss the book ; and so he is accepted 
to the franchises. 

10. Itecognizance hy a Femme Covert, — ^And the mayor and jurats may 
have recognizance in this manner. That if any husband, his wife 
having any tenement, or rent, within the said franchise, to any giwer or 
seller, and of which the said wife, by way of heritage, or of purchase, or 
in any other manner, was feoflfed or seized, or by reversion of any tene- 
ment, rent, or possession, after the death of any man, to her appertaining, 
the same wife shall come before the mayor and the bailiff and every of 
the jurors, and she shall be examined by every of the jurats ; and she 
shaU be examined by the same mayor and jurats, in the absence of her 
husband, whether she be contented of the said gift, or selling, or not; 
and the charter shall be read thfere, in English words, before the same 
wife, and if she say that she be well pleased, and not to that constrained 
by her husband, but of good will, and in her eood memory, and acknow- 
ledge the same deed, the recognizance shall be enrolled mto the comen 
rol£, as it appeareth after the manner. And after recognizance so done, 
the said wife, nor her husband, may not, in the said tenement, rent, or 
possession, after claim, but they be excluded all time to come, and for ever. 

11. A Fine, confessed hy a sick woman, available, — ^Also, they be wont 
to take such recognizance before the mayor and any of the jurats, in the 
court, in case the wife be in good mmd, and in full health, and there 
personally come. But if the wife of the man be sick or feeble, that for 
feebleness she may not come to the court, and she would such acknow- 
ledge by recognizance, she shall send for the mayor and some of the 
jurats, and they shall come for to hear her will. When they be come, 
the same there they shall examine in manner aforesaid ; if she consent 
firm and stable, be the recognizance for all to come, and for ever. 

Also, if the wife of any man make knowledge, that in a case the con- 
ditions be, tliat she and her husband should be again feoffed of the 
aforesaid tenement or possession, jointly to their heirs, or to the husband's 
term of his natural life, and to the wife, arid to her heirs, or in other 
manner, the mayor and jurats shall behold, and ratify these conditions, 
for the right and equity to be had and used in the said franchises at all 
times. 

12. Mortmain for Masses, — ^Also, the mayor and jurats and common- 
alty may grant and confirm the ratification of lands and tenements, rents, 
and other possessions, within the franchises, being as much to a chauntry 
of masses, the sustenation of hospitals, and to Holy Church, viz., to Saint 



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MODERN WINCHELSEA. 2£1 



Thomas and Saint Giles, Winchelsea, without licence of the king, or any 
other lord, any rent of the aforesaid lands and tenements, rents, and 
other possessions having. 

13. Receiving Pleas, — ^Also, the hailiff or his sergeant shall receive all 
manner of plaints, as well of stranger as of in-dweller, after their nature, 
and they shall make attachment or summons ; and if the plaintiff or defend- 
ant be strangers, their plea shall be holden from day to day, if it be not of 
land, or of the crown ; and if it be of the two, or of the one, they shall be 
holden from fifteen days to fifteen days, viz., on Tuesday ; every manner of 
plea shall be holden in the court-house of our Sovereign Lord the King ; 
the same to be tried for member or for life, the which shall be holden in 
the hundred. In case of trespass, bloodshed, hamsoken, or mayhem, the 
defendant shall be attached by his body, to come unto the prison, if he 
cannot find sufficient pledges to be at the next court; at which court, if 
he come not, be he and his pledges in mercy; and for to be set at liberty, 
pledges against the next court; and so until he be justified for to answer 
to the party for why. In such cases be there no delay in court. 

14. Plea of Debt and Covenant. — ^In every plea of debt, and covenant 
broken, and chattels withholden, be it between freemen or strangers, or 
between two strangers or two freemen, the bailiff shall take pledge to 

Sursue; and if he may not find pledge, be his faith on the yard, and his 
ay shall be limited unto him if he be a stranger, the morning afterwards; 
and if they be both abiding, both the one and the other, they shall have 
their day n:om fifteen days to fifteen days, as is above said, in the said 
court-house. And the bailiff shall summons against the stranger with 
the premises at the first court, and if he come not, be he attached; and 
if he come not at the second court, be he distrained from court to court, 
till he will justify. And when the parties be come into court, in their 
proper persons, or by their attomies, the plaintiff shall come to the de- 
lendant to ask leave for to account, which ought to be given; and the 
defendant in the same manner if he come to the mayor, he shaU have 
leave. But in no manner of plea, where the sergeant is at the beir, no 
leave then shall be given to piead again. And in case the demaiid lay 
before them specially, by two men and himself, the third being at the 
making of the said deed; and in case that he may not pursue specially, 
the party defendant shall go without day; and the plaintiff be in mercy. 
And in case that the demandant may prove his deed, the defendant shall 
be in mercy, and make agree with the parties and have damage. 

15. Proceedings with Heirs and Executors, — ^Also, in case that heirs 
and executors be impleaded, and the demandant have no speciality, the 
demandant ou^ht to prove the debt by certain folk, two or three of the 
sight and hearmg, and he shall be heard. 

16. Arresting of Goods of a Foreign Debtor witMn the Franchise. — 
Also, if a man of the franchise see his foreign debtor within the franchise, 
well may the said freeman arrest the chattels of his debtor in the franchise, 
and going freshly to the bailiff, to him commit the said arrest, so that 
none deliverance be made in the absence of the said bailiff to deliver and 
the two parties, and neither of the two shall be amerced to each other. 
And in whatsoever manner of plea, in the which a man is adjudged, be 
he foreign or denizen, before the mayor and the bailiff in the court, he 
shall do hold in person, untU he make agreement with the party in right 
of damage returned in the court; and shall be taxed by the mayor and 
jurats of the party, if the party condemned of him will ask. 

17. A Freeman to have Summons against a Freeman. — ^In case any 
freeman complaineth against another freeman, he must come into the court 

29 



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222 MODERN WINCHELSEA. 



by summons, or by attachment, and the party defendant will account against 
hmi; he that is impleaded maj delay the same day by these words: — 

Sir Mayor, please you to wit, that I am a freeman, and I am not bound 
anon to answer to the party, by the reason I have no summons, nor as 
a freeman, before this day, for to be against him in this court; for which 
Sir, I ask my fee summons by law, as freeman ought to have in this 
«ourt 

18. A Woman covert de Baron, — ^Item, if a woman coTert de baron, 
viz., having an husband, be impleaded of a plea of debt, covenant broken, 
or chattels with-holden, and sne be boima for merchandise, she shall 
answer without the presence of her husband. 

19. Plea of Land. — ^Every plea of land shall be in a place called the 
court-house, appertaining to our Sovereign Lord the Kmg, which plea 
may not be holaen without the presence of the mayor, and be that holden 
from fifteen days to fifteen days, viz., the Tuesday, whether it be between 
stranger or freeman, or between two strangers or two freemen, of all 
limds, rents, and tenements within the franchise. And all manner of 
pleas of lands, rents, and tenements within the franchise, may be tried 
there by simple plaint, without the writ of our Sovereign Lord the King, 
save the writ of right, called Du Droit Patent, in the which he shall say, 
that if a man do not, the Sherifi* of Sussex shall say to the Warden of the 
Cinque Forts, that all manner of writs ought to be pleaded in that manner, 
as it is in the King's courts save in some writs many delays, as in assize 
and mort d'ancestor, and in others less. 

There as their pleas being common pleadings, the pleas by themselves, 
or their counsels, the mayor shall record the process of the trespasser, 
and the other; and as me nature of the process, the said mayor and 
jurats shall go to judgment, the which judgment shall be given by the 
mouth in playn court And if any difficulty be in such judgment, be it 
lawiul for the mayor and the jurats to have together the speaking of 
their combrethren of the Cinque Ports, how and in what manner thev 
shall do right, and the parties after the plea before them pleaded; which 
judgment shall be delayed until the next court ensuing. 

20. Proceedings in Plea of Life and Member, — Also the bailiff, when 
appellor doth appeal any man of me or member, shall attach the defend- 
ant by his body, &c., that the bailiff take pledges against the appellor, 
for to pursue his appeal; and if the appeal be such that the defendant be 
like to die, then the baiHff shall attacn and sequester (by the advice of 
the mayor and the sworn men, or any of the sworn men) all the move- 
able goods of the defendant; but the said bailiff may not alienate the 
ffoods in no wise. If the defendant be convicted, all his goods shall be 
forfeited to the King; and all his house aiui rents, witmn the King's 
liberties, shall be forieited to the King for a year and a day; and after 
that, they turn to the right heirs of the said defendcmt; and if he have 
none, to the Lord of the fee. 

21. A Freeman appeaUed. — ^Also, when the appellor and the appealled 
shall come before the mayor and the bailiff's sergeant, he shall hdld the 
defendant's hand; but when that he shall answer, he shall be unbound, 
and the bailiff shall rehearse, to the men that shall be there, the cause of 
the man that is appealled, and then the appellor shall appeal tJie defend- 
ant ; and if the defendant contrary to the appellor, then ne ought to say 
he is not guilty of the appeal that is put upon him, and that he will acquit 
himself thereof, after the liberty of the said town ; and at a certain day 
assigned the defendant, have thirty-six men, good and true, the which 
shall swear with him that he is not guilty ; and that day ought to be 



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MODERN WINCHELSEA. 223 



assigned unto such time, and that the defendant may send into the place 
of his dweUin^ after such men, so that he shall be a stranger ; and none 
of the thirty-six men shall be refused their oath, so that they be known 
for good men and true, whether they be stranger or denizen. 

22. Cutting a Purse. — ^Also, when any man is found cutting a purse, 
or with the money stolen out of purses in any other place ; then, at the 
suit of the appellor, one of the ears shall be abscided ; and then shall he 
be led to the limits of the town, and forswear the town, never to be seen 
there afterwards, under pain of losing tljie other ear ; and if he be found the 
second time cutting of purses, and may be proved that he loses his ear for 
the like cause, and if he bear any sign whereby a thief may be known, then 
he shall lose the other ear, and abjure the town, under pain of losing his 
life. And if he be found a third time in manner abovesaid, then he shall 
die, whether that he be signed in that town, or in any other place. 

23. Proceedings in Theft and Trespass. — Also, if uny theft, or any 
trespass be done in the port, or the town, as well by land as by water ; 
also, if any person come to <dwell in any of the said towns or ports, to 
bear open slander against the said port or town ; then the mayor shall 
attach him, and deliver him to the Tbailiff into prison ; for the bailiff shall 
receive all manner of such attachments, done by the mayor's hand, and 
deliver them, after that the trespass be there considered. And the man 
attached for that false slander euiall abide in prison, and no man pursue 
for him ; and afterwards he shall be delivered by pledges, but so shall 
govern himself well and truly afterwards ; that if he may not find us 
pledges, then he shall forswear until he can. 

24. The Bailiff not to attach upon suspicion, without consent of the 
Mayor. — ^Also, though the bailiff have any man suspected, he may not 
attach him in any case, without assent of the mayor and jurats, neither 
may he detain without their assent. 

25. Felony in Foreign. — ^Also, if any man, free or stranger, for any 
felony or trespass in foreign country, come to the said town for the cause 
of help, he shall not be attached witliin the said town, as long as he go- 
vemetn himself within the said town well and truly ; without that the 
Warden of the Cinque Ports command that the said man be attached by 
assigning his cause ; and if he may not find six men to' undertake his 
body, within the said liberty, when it shall be asked ; and if they come to 
serve him, he shall be had out of prison. 

26. Escape of Felony. — Also, when any man of the said liberty, or a 
stranger, do any felony within the liberty, and flee from the said liberty 
for dread of the same felony, the mayor may send for him again, within 
that lordship or freedom wheresoever he be, within the realm of England, 
except the hberty of Holy Church, and have him delivered by the free- 
dom of the same town, and there to be punished for his trespass ; and so 
it hath been used of old time, unto this day. 

27. Bloodshed. — ^Also, the bailiff may attach any man without any 
assent, where thQ man draweth blood of another in violence ; he maf put 
him in prison, if he that is hurt will pursue; and he may also put him to 
pledge, for the peace to be kept. And if any man will make any rescue 
against the bailiff for drawing of blood, the mayor and the sworn men 
shall help him, if they be required, on the King's behalf; and that may 
the mayor and every jurat do, when they see any man striking, or dis- 
turbing the King's peace. 

28. Of true MerCs Goods seized. — ^Also, if the goods of any true man 
be arrested among the goods of a felon, which goods the felon haply had 
by borrowing, and the owner might prove the goods his, and the felon 



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224 MODERN WINCHELSEA. 



with-say it not, the goods shall be delivered unto the owner; for a thief 
may not for-say another man's ^oods to be his own, and will not appeal 
him, and he snail then lose me foods. And when a man is appealed 
and the suit of the appellor be judged to death, then the appellor shall 
have the goods that he challenged in the appeal. 

29. Instresa for Bent, — ^Also, if anyman hold any tenement, by the 
which he ought to pay free rent to any man, and suffer the said tenement 
to be ruinous, or to fall, so that he who ought to have the free rent have 
none thereof, neither may find there none distress to the value; then let 
him, after seven months and one day, come unto the playne hundred, be- 
fore the mayor and jurats, complainmg thereof his right with-held. Then 
the mayor and the sworn men shall give him full power to set distress, if 
the owner the arrearage will not pay; and if the owner cannot, then let 
him come to the next hundred, and complain to the mayor as he did 
before; and when it shall be adjudged, that he go to the said tenement 
or land, and solenmly, by the sight of worthy men, he shall open the door 
of the tenement, and lift it out of the hook^; and if no man come within 
twelve months and one day, then it shall be judged, that he shall stick a 
stake in the earth, and that there shall be made proclamation; and if any 
man or woman ask any right in the said lands and tenement, let them 
come within six months and one day, from the time of this proclamation, 
and satisfy the asker of his arrearage; and if he acknowledge, after the 
liberty of the said town, the cause why he would not do it, before any 
pain of losing the said tenement and lands within the twelve months and 
one day, and no man come to make any, or to do in the manner aforesaid, 
then, in the next hundred following, it shall be judged, that the seizin of 
the lands and tenement shall turn to the asker of the said rent thereof 
due. But if any man or woman, within the said year and a day, before 
the payment made, acknowledge him to pay all that is due of the said 
tenement or lands, then he may save his lands and tenement; and if he 
will avow and say he holdeth not the lands and tenement of the asker, 
then they may plead; for in that case, the asker may not receive his 
asking, but by plea. 

30. Of Strepe and Waste, — ^Also, if any man or woman hold anywise 
demise of land within the town for their lives, and if the reversion thereof 
belong to another man, if he waste the demise, or suffer it to be wasted 
in any wise, then the mayor and the sworn men, at the pursuing of him 
that owneth the reversion, shall constrain him to repair and support the 
said tenement, while that be insufficient; and if he be not sufficient, then 
the mayor and the sworn men shall take his goods, and sell them, to the 
reparation of the said demise; and if he will not, then he shall lose the 
said demise. 

31. Withernam, — Also, the mayor and jurats may take withernam- of 
citizens of London, and in any other place where they repair unto, for 
any manner of thing done against the liberties; and the withernam may 
be taken for many cases. 

If a freeman come unto the mayor and jurats, praying to have letters 
under the mayor's seal, or the common seal of the town, to pray for him 
to citizens of London, or to burgesses of Calais, or any other place thither 
side the sea, or beyond the sea, to recover debt against another man 
dwelling there, in which debt he is bound to the said combaron and free- 
man of Winchelsea aforesaid, as he saith; and, if at the first letter, the citi- 
zens, or the burgesses aforesaid, do not execute their letters to recover the 
debt; or they write not again, permitting to do well execution, then send 
them letters a second time; and if they do not answer in manner abovesaid 



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MODEliN WINCHELSEA. 225 



then send them letters a third time, on the part of the commonalty of the 
said town, under the common seal; and if at the letters the third time so 
sent, they do not in the manner abovesaid, and the pursuer come before 
the mayor and the sworn men, swearing on the gospel, that he into such 
a city, or burgh, such manner of letters, after his freedom and right, 
had sent, and the said citizens and burgesses had failed in his right, and 
will not execute his letters; then it shful be judged, that all that com- 
monalty shall be condemned in the said debt, for default of righteousness, 
and that all that commonalty be distrained for the whole debt aforesaid; 
so that it may be proved to be very right, before the mayor and sworn 
men, that the said debt be true, and right to be paid. 

And in case the said men of the aforesaid towns and burghs, for the 
same cause leave, and flee from the aforesaid town and haven of Win- 
chelsea, and do go to other of the Cinque Ports, then the mayor and the 
sworn men shall send, by their letters, to the said ports, the record and 
proofs of the aforesaid debt, and jud^ent; and then they, after their 
custom and usage, shall make distraining and final execution, by the 
record and process aforesaid, the which the aforesaid mayor and sworn 
men of Winchelsea made, and sent to them. 

32. Buyina and selling in Foreign, — ^Also, if any freeman of the said 
town of Winchelsea dare not buy, nor sell, in any place of England, in 
London, Scotland, or France, or in any other place, by land or by water, 
or if they be distrained unrightfully, or pay any custom, or toll against 
the liberties, through any means of any commonalty, of their knowledge, 
or without knowledge, so that they may write their name, and so by their 
letters thus sent to the city or burgh, wheresoever they may be, once, or 
twice, or thrice, as it is aforesaid, by any of the freemen of the said 
town; but, and if they cannot offer any reasonable cause for themselves, 
in writing, or by any otherwise, then it shall be adjudged, that withernam 
shdl be taken of all the commonalty; and so always that it be taken and 
held, untill the said commonalty direct the said trespass, in due form, 
what harms and expences for their rightful damage had and sustained. 

33. Of the Lord of a Franchise distraining a Portman, — ^Also, if any 
lord distrain any merchant of Winchelsea, for pickage or standing on 
the ground, and if he be prayed by the mayor, by his letters, without de- 
livering his distress, then may they take a withernam on him and all his 
tenants. 

Also, the freemen of Winchelsea may be purchasers of all merchandize, 
where that they may be at the buying, or selling, so that the buyer and 
seller either be free or stranger; but if it be so, that the buyer or seller 
may put on him any lawfull cause, where through that he shall claim no 
part thereof, and if he be convicted of for-swearing, or to have no part of 
merchandize, for because, if he went from the town abovesaid, from the 
King's service, or from war, and come not in again by a certain day as- 
signed, or if he do any forfeit against the said liberties, so that it be ad- 
judged that he lose the said Uberties; but there may be no stranger 
partner with a freeman as abovesaid, whatsoever he be, without his good- 
wiU. 

34. — Barons of the Ports may sell in Foreign, — ^And as][the men of the 
Cinque Ports were wont to be let of their liberties most on the coast of 
Ireland, Edward the King, uncle to Edward the Third, confirmed the said 
liberties, imder his charter, which see. 

35. Brewers may make and sell Ale in Foreign, — ^Also, if there be any 
brewer of the said town, a freeman, who makes ale, and sells in foreign 
in harvest time, and the lord of the fee or the borough distrain for tlmt 



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S26 MODERN WINCHELSEA. 



selling, against the liberty, then the mayor, through that complaint, shall 
send his letter and his seal to the said lord, to deliTer that distress ; for 
barons of Winchelsea are free to buy and sell throughout England. And 
if he do not, after these letters, then there shall be taken a withernam on 
aU the tenants of the abovesaid lord. 

36. Holding Pleas. — Also, all maimer of pleas, real and personal, of 
which no mention hath been made, the mayor hath competence of his 
fellows, sworn to natural laws ; on the which, and of the which, all man- 
ner of customs according to law, which being foimded, and proceeding 
forth from Shepway ; and the coronation of me king and the queen, the 
said town of Wincnelsea hath as the other barons of the Cinque Ports. 

37. AUenatum of Lands, — ^Also, in case that a stranger, or a freeman, 
hath lands, rents, or tenements, within the same franchise, and he bind 
the same lands, rents, or tenements, to any stranger or freeman ; or be 
he \)ound by recognizance made in the common rolls ; or else the said 
lands, rents, and tenements, be alienated ; he shall have execution to leyy 
the debt of the said lands, tenements, and rents, without plea of it to be 
found by recognizance. 

38. Complaints to he heard either in the town or at Shepway, — ^Also, in 
case that any man of the said town, do complain of any man of the said 
town, in any other place but the same town, he shall be punished for liie 
despite to the comen, or else that it be in defence of the right of the 
comen, as aforesaid; and then it shall be tried before the warden, at 
Shepway, and no where else. 

39. Freeman may claim a share- of Merchandize sold. — ^If any mer- 
chant, denizen, or stranger, any mercljandize at Winchelsea do put to sale, 
and they at the same town which be at the beginning of the said merchan- 
dize together, and also they of the said francmse bemg absent, and their 
part ought to be claimed by them that be then present. Be it also, that 
the said merchandize be equally divided, every man his part 

40. Division of Merchandize. — ^ALbo, if any stranger buy any merchan- 
dize in the franchise, being in absence of the folks of the franchise, they 
shall have half of the aforesaid merchandize, against the stranger, if they 
will ask it. 

41. Wardship. — ^Also, if a man or woman die, and their heir be within 
a^e, the mayor snail have the sight of the child, and also of the goods and 
chattels, rents, and lands; and, by the said majror and sworn men, the 
child shall be put to ward, to the most next of his blood, and to whom 
no heritage may in any wise extend. And also all the said goods and 
chattels to his said keeper, by indenture made between the major and 
keeper, till the full age of the child ; and that the same part of this inden- « 
ture shall be delivered in the comen treasury. And, if so be that he have 
none of blood living, then the mayor shall take the aforesaid ffoods to a 
sufficient man of the said commonalty, for to restore to the (Siild at his 
full age, in the same maimer as it is above said. 

42. The Mayor Visitor of the ITofpitals, — Also, the mayor shall have 
the visitation of the hospitals of SamtJohn and Saint Bartholomew, of 
Winchelsea, ever); year once ; and there be in the said hospital brethren 
and sisters, sometimes more, and sometimes less ; and there shall be no 
brother nor sister taken into the hospitals, but by assent of the mayor 
and commons aforesaid. And the rules of the hospitals aforesaid shall 
be read before the mayor, or in time of his visitation, which he shall ask 
and enquire for, if they be well holden, or not ; also if any brother or 
sister do bear them in such manner, by which they be culpable, or an 
annoyance to the house. The mayor shall enquire of all the brethren and 



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MODERN WINCHBLSBA. 227 



sisters being there ; and if he or she be then thereof annoyant, the mayor 
shall do him remove, if he will. And the mayor may, by the assent of 
the sworn men, if he may find in the same comen men or women that be 
covenatable, who have been in good love and fame all their time, and have 
neither ^oods nor chattels wher^f to live, the said man or woman shall 
be sent into the said hospital, to take the sustenance of the said brethren 
and sisters, without paying anything to the said hospital. 

43. Chtmng JBrokera. — ^Also, the mayor and the comen shall chuse com- 
mon brokers, certain men to keep the weights and measures, as well of 
the com as of the cloth, both linen and woollen, the which shall be sent 
to do right, as well to strangers as freemen. 

These writings were compiled by Thomas Hokemam, town-clerk of 
Winchelsea, A.I)., 1557. 



KING'S AND TOWN'S RENTS. 

The following are the rents as entered in the book formerly 

belonging to Mr. Wm. Lucas ShadweU, under date of 1716. 

s. d. 
The heirs of Edward Martin, 

For a house and ground in 13th quarter, called the Firebrand . 1 1i 

Ground there, where once stood a house 2 

Ditto in 1st quarter, late Cheston's 10 

A house and ground in the Strand Oil 

A bam, &c., in ditto Hi 

The Pendants of the Hill there 2 1 

A house and ground in 13th quarter 1 0^ 

Total 7s. lid. 

The heirs of Robert JSristow, Esq, 

For the WaUnut Tree marsh 8 

A barn in the Strand 3 

A house and ground in ditto 8 

Another house and ground in ditto 14 

Ground in 7th quarter, late Clerk's 1 OJ 

Another piece, 7th quarter, late ditto, formerly Famham's . 3 
House in 7th quarter, tenant Pamell . . . . -20 

Other ground there 1 Oi 

House and ground, 9th quarter, tenant Wm. Gyles . . lOJ 

Piece of ground in the Strand, late Longley's . . . 10 

Total 16s. 3id. 

Thos, Jenkins, tanner. 

For a house in 13th quarter, late Head's . . . . 2 4i 
A piece of ground where once stood a bam, ditto . . .04 

A house and ground in 6th quarter, late Fowle's . . . 8i 

Ground in 8th quarter, late Ince's 5 2 

Ditto in 2nd ditto ditto 2i 

Ditto in 8th ditto ditto 1 8i 

Other ditto in ditto, formerly Three Kings^ Taverne . .05 

A dwelling house in the Strand 1 24 

Total 12s. 2id. 



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MODBRN WINCHELSEA. 

ft. d. 
Jfr. Samuel Newman. 

For an orchard in the 9th quarter 4 9^ 

Ground in 35th quarter 1 3f 

Other ditto in ditto . . . » Ill 

Ground in 14th auarter, where stood a house and ham .14 

Ditto in 9th aitto where once stood a house . . 7^ 

A piece of ditto in 10th quarter, late Mr. Seymore's . .09 

Morley'B marsh, in the Strand 16 

The Stone Sock House and ground there .12 

A stable and ground in 13th quarter 4 

An orchard in 18th ditto .' 1 9^ 

The Ferry marsh 3 4 

5^iVc>eW, in 28th (juarter 4 9 

A house and ground in 7th quarter 1 7i 

Ditto and ditto there, late Cheston's . 1 8| 

A garden belonging to the same 3^ 

A house and ground in the Strand 5 3} 

Ditto and ditto in 3rd quarter 8^ 

For a piece of ground at Monday's Market . . .02 

An orchard in 10th quarter 3 5| 

Land in 23rd ditto 8| 

A field in 27th ditto 2 1 

A bam and land in 28th ditto 6 4i 

A field in 33rd ditto 1 10 

Land in 36th ditto 7 

Ktm^s Green, in 34th ditto 5 

A house and ground in 28th ditto 11 

Ground in 3rd ditto, late Westbrooke's . . . .26 

A house and ground in 2nd quarter * 2 3 

An orchard in 20th quarter 3 3 

A piece of ground in 19th, where once stood a bam .33 

A field in 21st quarter 4 3 

For ground in 15th quarter 3 2^ 

More ditto there 4 8^ 

Saffron Garden, in 22nd quarter 7| 

A nouse and ground in the Strand 18 

An orchard in 1st quarter 3 

Butchery Orchard, 19th quarter 4 1 

Total £4 7s. 3|d. 

The heirs of John Hayes, Esq, 
For a house and ground in the 10th quarter . , .64 

Ground in 26th quarter 5 3i 

Relfe House, in 12th quarter 1 li 

Tinker's Garden, 17th ditto 3 1 

The Pendants of the Hill there 10 

Friar's Orchard, in 4th quarter 5 8f 

Yor BaUad Singer's Piatt, mihel^ikqfi^rijsr . . . 2 7* 

A field in 27th quarter 5 2 

The Th(yme, in 24th quarter 3 4i 

The Summerlands, in 20th ditto 3 2| 

The Salutation, in 2nd ditto 17 

A house and ground, 8th ditto, Fissenden's . . . .13 

The whole 16th quarter 7 OJ 

The Pendants of the Hill 6 



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MODERN WINCHBLSEA. 



8. d. 

A field in 11th quarter 3 3 

More ground in ditto 3 Of 

BartholometJD^sJieldy in 39th quarter . . . .60 

i^rac ^anA; ditto, 22nd ditto 7 4. 

St. John's field, in 34th quarter «. 13 9 

A field in 30th quarter 4 9 

More for land, late Tooke/s * 14 

A field in 29th quarter 3 7 

Total £4 10s. 2id. 

John Stoaine, 
For a house and groirnd in the 8th quarter . . .06 

Ground in 2nd quarter 1 4^ 

Trqfan's HaU, 19th quarter Hi 

Land in 20th ditto 2 9 

A field in ditto 5 4i 

Total lOs. Hid. 

The Parsonage of St. Thomas the Apostle 14 

Ditto St. Oyles 13 

Total 13s. 6id. 

CMweU. 
A house and ground in 18th quarter . . . . 2 5f 

His house in 5th quarter 3 

A house, &c., 13th ditto 2 

Total 68. 7Jd. 

WWdam TidgweU. 

A house and ground in 14th quarter * 5i 

Ground in ditto 2 2i 

More ditto in ditto 4 

Total 3s. 

Mr. Young. 
For a house, &c., in the 13th quarter 7i 

Thomas Co6per.^ 
For the Horse-head-Housey 9th quarter . 1 Oi 

Ground in 6th quarter 4i 

Total Is. 5d. 

Zacheus Dicheson. 

A house and ground in 6th quarter 6i 

A lane thereto adjoining 2 

Total 8id. 

Widow Stately. 
For her house in 12th quarter 2 Oi 

Mr. Short. 
For a house in 2nd quarter 2 11 

John Samson. 
For a house in 6th quarter 10 

John Benden. 
For part of the Castle field • . . . . . . 6i 

^In the Church Register, irnder date 1717-8, is the following entry, 
which establishes the correctness of the date of Mr. Shadwell's rentaL 
Jan. 14, buried Thomas Cooper, juratt. 30 



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2S0 MODERN WINCHELSEA. 



John Richardson. 
For a house and ^ound in the 8th quarter .15 

The house adjoining 2 

Total Is. 7d. 

Mr, £are8. 

For a house and ground in 8th quarter .19 

John CarryUj Esq, 

Fart of Holy Bood, in 38th quarter 

More in 39th quarter 

Total 12s. IIH 

T?ie heirs of Edward Marten, 

Ground in the Strand 

The Fendants of the Hill, by the tan house 

Cookers Greeny in 1st quarter 

The Fendants of the Hill, in the Strand .... 

The other ditto at the Mount 

Two pieces of lanes in 1st (quarter . ... 

The Fendants of the Hill, in the Strand, part of a lane there, and 

a bam 

Ground at Monday's Market 

Total 14s. 3d. 

Robert Bristow, Esq, 
For part of the WaUnut Tree marsh 
A piece of ground near the tan yard 
A house in the Strand, &c., tenant Tamsett 
A lane near that house, tenant Ashenden 
Several other lanes and slipps of ground 
For the standing of a fence against a bame 
Mr. Farnell's house in 7th quarter 

Total 7s. 8d. 

Mr, Walsh. 
For a chimney platt in 13th quarter 

His stable in ditto 

Total 8d. 

Mr, Samuel Newman, 

An inclosure before his house, 10th quarter 
The porch belonging to his bam there 

The Ferry marsh 

For the Squire^ldy 28th quarter 

Ckmey field 

The Fendants of the Hill, near Ptjpc WeU 
Land in 19th quarter .... 

The Brewhouse marsh .... 

House, ground, and lane in the Strand, tenant Jarret 

The Furze Land field 

A lane between the MtU Banks 

Fart of the Town ditch and two lanes there 

A spot of ground in 2nd quarter for a stable 

Butchery Orchard, 19th quarter 

Crooked Acre and part of a lane 

Part of a lane adjoining thereto 

Total £1 148. 7id. 



9 


114 


3 





4 


4 





2 





2 





2 





2 





2 


6 


1 


3 





1 





10 


1 


6 


1 








4 





4 


2 


8 





4 





4 





4 





4 


10 


4 


6 


8 


2 








4 


1 


6 





2 


1 





1 








04 





6 





4 


7 





3 








1 



Digitized by VjOOQ IC 



MODERN WINCHELSEA. 231 

8. d. 
TJiomas Jenkins, tanner. 

For Black Well, in his tan yard 2 6 

A piece of a lane, 8th quarter, lately belonging to the Inces . 1 

Land in 3rd quarter, ditto 3 

A house and ground, late Head's 8 

Total f4s. 6d. 

John Stcaine of Hasting. 
For land in 2nd quarter, called Riches . . . .04 

Part of Pooke lane , . .01 

Total 5d. 

John CarryU, Esq» 
¥ ox Holy Rood 3 

Mr. Pares. 
For land behind the Court HaU 2 

Mr, John Short, 
Far a house and ground in Ist quarter, tenant Mr. Cruttenden . 8 

The heirs of John Hayes, Esq. 
For the Pendants of the Hill, near the Thome , . .01 

The Town ditch, a green, and a lane near PeU Morrice .06 

A bam and ground in 12th quarter 3 4 

The Pendants of the Hill there 2 

Part of two lanes there 10 

More for other around there 2 

The house called the Salutation 4 

The standing of the sign post 6 

The Ferry Salts . .50 

The Thome, m 24th quarter 3 

Two lanes adjoining 8 

ThQ Ferry Mouse 10 

A spot of ground called Fissenden's bam . . . .04 

Barthohmew field, 39th quarter 2^ 

Pooke lane, near Crooked Acre 6 

The Pendants of the Hill, late Fissenden's . . . .10 

St, Leonard's Green, and a piece of a lane near OaUows HiU , 6 

Total £1 Os. IJd. 

Widow Stately, 
For a house and ground, 12th quarter 10 

Mr, Young, 
A house and ground, 13th quarter 3 

Benjamin Jackson's ufidow. 
A house and ground, 5th quarter 2 6 

John Sampson, 

Ground adjoining to his house 2 

Part of a fane, 6th quarter 1 

Total 3d. 
William TidgweU. 
The Pendants of the Hill, 6th quarter, adjoining to Sampson's 

house 1 

More for the Pendants of the Hill adjoining . .02 

Total 3d. 
Making together, £18 6s. O^d. 



Digitized by VjOOQ IC 



"^. '^. 



282 



KODEBN WINCHELSEA. 



In the oldest account book belonging to the Chamberlain 
of the Corporation^ (1768) which is signed by Edwin 
Wardroper, mayor^ and by W. Marten, Nathl. Dawes, Thos. 
Orby Hunter, Arnold Nesbitt, Thos. Marten, Alex. Nes- 
bitt, John Crawfurd, John Knight, and John Peters, is 
the following entry among the receipts : — 

£ 8. d. 
To a year's King's rents and Town's rents due at Midsum- 
mer, 1753 19 1 10 

Less unpaid .......* 1 8 3^ 

£17 13 64 



The difference, probably, being for waste land let subse- 
quently to the compilation of the former rental. 

The latest Rental, by which the Chamberlain now collects, 
is asfollows : no new rental haying been made for several 
years, the old names of former owners frequently occur instead 
of the present proprietors. 

THE KING'S AND TOWN'S RENTAL. 



8. d. 

Ditto, for the standing of a 

sign post . .'.06 
George Tilden, a spot of 
ground to set a stable on 4 
Total Is. 7d. 
THIEB QUARTER. 
King's Henta, 
Josiah Boots . . . 8i 
Thomas Lloyd, West brook 2 6 
Edward Jeakins . . 1 8^ 
Total 4s. lid. 
Toum's Rents. 
Ditto . . . .30 

Thomas Lloyd, Esq., for the 
standing of the black- 
smith's shop . .26 
Total 6s. 6d. 
FOURTH QUARTER. 
Kin^s Itents. 
Thomas Lloyd, Esq., for 
Fryer's Orchard . . 5 84 



FIRST QUARTER. 






Kin^s Itents, 






Edward Jeakins 


10 


Ditto .... 


2 11 


Total 3s. 9d. 






Toum*s Itents, 






Ditto for Cook's Green 





2 


Ditto .... 





2 


Ditto .... 





8 


Total Is. 






SECOND QUARTER. 




King's Rents. 






Thomas Lloyd, Esq. 
Edward Jeakins 


2 



3 
2 J 


Thomas Lloyd, Esq., 8alu- 






1 


7 


Ditto .... 


1 


4i 


Total 5s. 5d. 






Town's Rents. 






Ditto .... 





4 


Ditto, part oiPook lane . 





1 


Ditto, Salutation Tavern . 





4 



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MODERN WINCHEL8EA. 



233 



FIFTH QUARTER, 






King's Rents. 






George Bray 


3 





Tmon's Rents. 






Ditto .... 


2 


6 


SIXTH QUARTER. 






King's Rents. 






Joseph Hoad 





8 


Robert Alee 





4 


George Stace . . . 





61 


Charles Terry . .v 





H 


Ditto, for a lane adjoining 






his property 
George TUden 
Charles Terry, for the Pen- 






2 

8i 






dents of the Hill (sold 






May 20th, 1680) . 





1 


Ditto, ditto, ditto 





2 


Ditto, part of a lane 

Ditto, for standing of pallisadc 





1 


;s 




before his house 





6 


Hoad 





2 


Total 3s. 9Jd. 






SEVENTH QUARTER. 




King's Rents. 






Thomas Lloyd, Esq. 


1 


0* 


Ditto .... 





3 


Ditto .... 


2 





Ditto .... 


1 


0| 


Ditto, a piece of ground 






whereon the Stone Rock 






House formerly stood . 


1 


2 


Ditto, for a house and 






ground, whereon a brew- 
house formerly stood 






1 


8| 


Ditto .... 





H 


Ditto .... 


1 


71 


Ditto .... 


2 


8 


Ditto .... 





2 


Edward Jeakins 


5 


2 


Ditto, for a piece of ground 






whereon stood heretofore 






the Three Kings' Tavern 





5 


Thomas Lloyd, Esq.^ for 






bam and ground 


1 


3 


Ditto .... 





6 


Ditto . . 


1 


9 


Ditto .... 


1 


5 


Total £1 2s. 5|d. 






Town's Rents. 






Ditto, a piece of ground 
behind the Court Hall . 






2 






Edward Jeakins, for piece of 

a lane 
Thomas Lloyd, Esq., for 
ground taken from the 
Court Hall plat 

Total 3s. 6d. 
NINTH QUARTER. 
King's Rents. 
Edwin Dawes, Esq., for an 
orchard, late Sir William 
Ashbumham's, Bart., the 
the only son and heir-at- 
law of the late Lord 
Bishop of Chichester 
Ditto .... 

Ditto .... 

Total 6s. 5id. 
Town's Rents. 
Ditto, for a porch, where 
stood a bam 

TENTH QUARTER. 
Kin^s Rents. 
Thomas Lloyd, Esq. 
Ditto, for an orchard where 

stood a house 
Ditto, for ground where 
stood a house 

Total 10s. 6Ad. 
Totffn's Rents. 
James Bray, for an inclosure 
before the house 



1 



6 






4 



9 



3 5J 
6 4 



4 



ELEVENTH QUARTER. 
King's Rents. 
Thomas Lloyd, E«q., for a 
piece of ground, almost 
the whole quarter . 3 3 

Ditto . . . 3 Of 

Total 6s. 3Jd. 
TWELFTH QUARTER. 
Kin^s Rents. 
Ditto, for a bam and ground 

called the Cherry &arden 1 If 
Richard Stileman, Esqr's., 
heirs, giece of garden 
ground . . . 2 Of 

Total 3s. 2d. 
Toum's Rents. 
Ditto . . . .06 

Thomas Lloyd, Esq., Cherry 

Garden, bam, and ground 3 4 
Thomas Easton . .04 

31 



Digitized by VjOOQ IC 



234 



MODERN WINCHELSEA. 



Stileman's heirs 

Total 48. 2d. 



thirteenth: quarter. 

Kin^s Rents. 
Richard Lamb, for a house 

called the Firebrand . 1 *J\ 
Ditto . . . .02 

Thomas Llo^d, Esq. . 1 0^ 

Richard Stileman, Esqr*s., 

heirs . . .02 

Ditto . . . .02 

Edward Jeakins . 2 4| 

John Elliott . .02 

George Harrod .0 7) 

Total 68. 4d. 
2btr«'« Rents. 
William Sargent, for a chim- 
ney plat . . .04 
Ditto, for the standing of a 
stable (sold Aug. 2nd, 
1681) . . .04 
Edward Jeakins, for a house 8 
George Harrod . .30 
Ditto for the standing of a 
sign post . . .06 

Total 128. 2d. 

FOURTEENTH QUARTER. 

Kind's Rents. 

Edwin Dawes, Esql . 1 4 

Edward Jeakins, a piece of 

f round whereon stood a 
am . .04 

Thomas Lloyd, Esq., a piece 
of ground called the Bal- 
lad Singer's Plat 
George Harrod, two houses 
Richard Maplesden 
Thomas Easton 
Ditto 
Ditto 

Geoi^e Harrod 
Ditto 

Total lOs. 3Jd. 

FIFTEENTH QUARTER. 

Kin^s Rents, 

Thomas Lloyd, Esq. . 3 2| 

Ditto . . . . 4 8i 

Total 7s. lOf d. 

SIXTEENTH QUARTER. 

Kinds Rents. 

Ditto, for a field, being the 

whole quarter . . 7 OJ 





2 


7J 


louses 


5J 


. 1 


2 







8 







7 







7 




2 


2J 







4 



SEVENTEENTH QUARTER. 

Kin^s Rents. s. d. 
Thomas Lloyd, Esq., for a 
field called Tinker's Oar- 
den .... 3 1 

EIGHTEENTH QUARTER. 

Kin^s Rents. 
Ditto, for an orchard . 1 ^ 

Walter Fuller * . . 2 5| 

Total 48. 3id. 

NINETEENTH QUARTER. 

King's Rents. 
Thomas Lloyd, Esq., for a 
piece of ground called 
Little Monday's Market 2 
Ditto, for Trojan's HaU 

alias Jew's Hall . . 11| 
William Leere . . lOJ 

Thomas Lloyd, Esq. . 3 3 

Ditto, Butcher's Orchard . 4 1 
Total 98. 4d. 
Town's Rents. 
Ditto, LttOe Monday's Mar- 
ket .... 3 
Ditto . . .16 
Ditto, Butchery Orchard . 7 
Total lis. 6d. 

TWENTIETH QUARTER. 

Kin^s Rents. 
Ditto, for a field called Sum- 
mer Land, part of the 
Thorn . . . 3 2J 

Ditto . . .29 

Ditto, an orchard . .33 
Ditto, Burnt House Orchard 3 4 
Total 12s. ejd. 
Toum's Rents. 
Ditto, Summer Lands 5 

Ditto . . .04 

Total 58. 4d. 

TWENTY-FIRST QUARTER. 

King's Rents. 

Ditto, Chestfm's field . 4 3 

TWENTY-SECOND QUARTER. 

King's Rents. 
Ditto, the Furze Banks 7 4 

Ditto, Saffron Garden, ad- 
joining Cheston's field . 7.| 
Total 78. ll|d. 



Digitized by VjOOQ IC 



MODERN WINCHELSEA. 



235 



TWENTY-THIRD QUARTER. 
Kin^s Bents. s. d. 

Thomas Lloyd, Esq., a lane, 
part of dryers . .82 

TWENTY-FOURTH QUARTER. 

King's Rents, 
Ditto, a house and ground 

called The Thorn . 3 4i 

Town's Rents, 
Ditto, for The Thorn . 3 

Ditto, two lanes near ditto, 
and Gallows Hill . .08 
Total 38. 8d. 

TWENTY-FIFTH QUARTER. 

King's Rents. 

Ditto . . . . 5 3J 

TWENTY-SIXTH QUARTER. 

King's Rents, 
Ditto, a field, being a whole 

quarter . . . 5 4i 

TWENTY-SEVENTH QUAR- 
TER. 
King's Rents, 
Ditto, part of FVyer's caUed 

Little King's Ghreen . 2 1 
Ditto, Chapel field, or St. 

John's field . .52 

Total ^s. 3d. 

TWENTY-EIGHTH QUARTER. 

Kin^s Rents, 
Ditto Squire's field . 4 9 

Ditto, a piece adjoining 

ditto, where stood a bam 6 4| 
Ditto, part of the Fryers, 
where stood a house - 1 1 
Total 12s. 2Jd. 
Town's Rents, 
Ditto, Squire's field . .68 

TWENTY-NINTH QUARTER. 

Kirig's Rents, 
Ditto, Peckham field . 3 7 

THIRTIETH QUARTER. 
Kina^s Rents, 
Ditto, part of Great Gallows 

HiU . . ..49 



THIRTY-FIRST QUARTER. 

None. 

THIRTY-SECOND QUARTER. 

None. 

THIRTY-THIRD QUARTER. 

King's Rents, s. d. 
Thomas Lloyd, Esq., a field, 

partof JFVyer* . . 1 10 

THIRTY-FOURTH QUARTER. 

King's Rents. 
Ditto, land called King's 

Green . . .50 

jyitUi, St, John's field .13 9 
Total 18s. 9d. 

THIRTY-FIFTH QUARTER. 
King's Rents, 
Ditto, a piece of ground 

near the Pewes . . 1 3* 
Ditto . . . . 1 11* 

Total 3s. 2|d. 

THIRTY-SIXTH QUARTER. 

King's Rents, 
Ditto, land, part of Fryers 7 

THIRTY-SEVENTH QUARTER. 

None. 

THIRTY-EIGHTH QUARTER. 

Kind's Rents, 
Sir William Ashbumham, 

Eart of Holy Rood (the 
ite Lord Bishop of Chi- 
chester's - - - 9 Hi 

THIRTY-NINTH QUARTER. 

King's Rents, 
Thomas Lloyd, Esq., for 
Newgate alias Bartholo- 
metcfield , . .60 
Sir William Ashbumham, 

other part of Holy Rood 3 
Total 9s. 

Town's Rents. 
Ditto, Holy Rood . .30 
Thomas Lloyd, Esq., New- 
gate or Bartholomew 
field . . . 2J 

Total 3s. 2id. 



Digitized by VjOOQ IC 



236 



MODERN WINCHELSEA. 



KING'S AND TOWN'S RENTS, PAYABLE OUT OF 
THE QUARTERS. 



Edward Jeakins, for malthouse and brewhouse 

Ditto .... 

Ditto, for Well field 

Ditto, Wallnut Tree marsh 

Thomas Mays, for groimd at the Strand 

James Drury, ditto, and house at ditto 

Thamas Mays, ground at Strand 

Edward Jeakins, Longley's marsh, at ditto 

Thomas Lloyd, Esq., Pear Tree marsh 

Ditto, Morley's ditto 

Ditto, for ground at the Strand 

ReT. Drake Hollingbery, Parsonage of St Thomas the Apostl< 

Ditto ditto of St. Giles 

Thomas Lloyd, Esq., Pendents of the Hill, near Tinker's Garden 

Ditto . . 

Edward Jeakins, Pendents of the Hill 

Sir William Ashbumham, part of Castle field 

Thomas Lloyd, Esq., house and ground, Strand 

Edward Jeakins, ditto, ditto, ditto 

Henry Martin, Floatage ground ditto 

Edward Jeakins, Pendents of Cliff and Well field 

Ditto, Pendents of the Hill, where the ashes formerly stood 

Ditto, Pendents at Strand, and part of a lane there 

Ditto, Wallnut Tree marsh 

Ditto, piece of Ground near the tan yard 

James Drury, house and ground at Strand 

Ditto a lane near ditto 

Thomas Mays, several lanes and slips of ground (sold to Richard 

Breene, May 18th, 1680) 
Ditto, for standing of fence where once stood a bam 
Thomas Lloyd, Esq., for Mwley marsh 
Edward Jeakins, for Blackwell, in his tan yard 
Thomas Lloyd, Esq., for Brewhouse marsh 
Ditto, grounds and part of lane, Strand 
Ditto, Furze Banks 

Ditto, for a lane between the Mill Ban^s 
Ditto, part of Town's Ditch and two lanes adjoining 
Ditto, Pendents of the Hill, near tJie Thorn (punSiased Aug, 

2nd, 16«0) 

Ditto, Town's Ditch and green leading to Pet Morris (sold May 

30th, 1682) . . ~. 

Ditto, Pendents under Tinker^s Garden 
Ditto, part of two lanes 
Ditto .... 

Ditto, Ferry Salts 
Ditto, Feriy House 
Ditto, Pooh lane, near Crooked Acre 
Ditto, Pendents ... 

Ditto, St. Leonard's Green, and piece of land near Gallows Hill 
Ditto, Crooked Acre, and a lane there 
Ditto, a lane joining Crooked Acre 



s. d. 
11 
llj 

2 1 
8 
3 

8 

1 4 

10 

1 6 

3 4 
5 3| 
1 4 
1 3 

10 

1 4 
6 

6| 

1 8 



2J 

4 

2 

2 

1 



1 

10 

1 6 
1 





10 
2 




1 
1 




6 



1 

6 
2 

1 
2 



6 
3 
1 



Digitized by VjOOQ iC 



MODERN WINCHELSEA. 



Thomas Lloyd, Esq., Coney field . . .. . 

Edward Jeakins, Pendents, near Pipe Well ^ate 
Sir William Ashbumham, Water Bailiff's prison 
Total £4 88. llfd. 

MAYORS, 

so FAR AS THEY HAVE BEEN DISCOVEREIT. 



s. d. 

2 

4 

6 8 



1306. 34 Edward I. 



Henry Paulin. MSS. in Chapt. Ho. West., 
Press z., No. 11. 

Gervase Alard, jun. Bering MSS. 

Robert Paulyn. lb. 

Henry Vynghe. Addl. Charters, Brit. 
Museum, No. 970. 

Robert Arnald.^ Rot. Pari., vol. 2, p. 263 a. 

Valentine de Dovor. Bering MSS. 

Robert Arnold. lb. 

Robert Baddyng. lb* 

Robert Londeneys. lb. 

Robert Harri. lb. 

William Skele. Bat. Abb. Rec; 

Vincent Finch. Bering MSS. 

John Helde. Bat Abb. Rec. 

John Thundyr, jun. lb. 

John Tonstall.2 lb. 

Roger Atte Gate. lb. 

Thomas Thunder, jun. lb. 

The same 

William Worth. lb. 

Roger Atte Gate. lb. 

Jobn Godfrey. Ib» 

William Fynch. Ibv 

Thomas Sylton. lb. 

Godard Pulham. lb. 



^ There was a complaint against him by Johnde Bures, who,' coming to 
Winchelsea on his voyage to Brittany, had his ship seized on a plaint and 
judgment obtained in the Winchelsea Court by John de Menil, and the 
whole of her freight of large value sold by Sir Ralph Cans, Knt., Vyncent 
Finch, John his brother, and John Menil. Rot. Pari., vol. 2, p. 263 a. 

2 On 25th July, 1412, the Mayor of Winchelsea (for the time being) 
was appointed one of the Conservators of Truces with Flanders, to repair 
the ports, &c. Rym. Feed., vol. 8, p. 765. 

32 



1308-9. 


2 and 3 Edward 11. 


1313-4. 


7 


1333. 


7 Edward HI. 


1354. 


28 


1358. 


32 


1376-7. 


50 « 


Before 


11 Richard H. 


1388-9. 


11 and 12 


1389. 


12 and 13 


1400. 


1 Henry IV. 


1405. 


January 26th. 


1407. 


May Ist. 


1412. 


September 20th. 


1415. 


November 6th. 


1420. 


May 1st 


1425. 


April 5th. 


1426. 


April 5th. 


1430. 




1433. 


May2l8t 


1434. 


October 22nd. 


1443. 


June 20th. 


1446. 


July 2nd. 



Digitized by VjOOQ IC 



238 



MODERN WIKCHEL8EA. 



1474. 


February 20tli. 


Richard Davy. Bat. Abb. Rec. 


1^83-4 


. January Slst. 


John Fysshe. 


Rot Pat 


1522-3 


14 Henry VIU. 


Thomas Ashbomeham. Daring MSS. 


1544. 


36 


John Watts, 
lence 


Carlt Ride MS. Benevo- 


1571-2 


4tli Elizabeth. 


Thomas Wildforth. Dering MSS. 


1601-2 


. January 2l8t. 


Richard Martham, when the Charter to the 
Cinque Ports was granted. Jeake's 






Charters. 




1606. 


4 James I. 


Thomas Pelham. Arch. vol. 18, p. 291. 


1608. 


6 " 


Mr. White. 
235. 


Godfrey's Diary, Lans. MS., 


1609. 


7 " 


William Bishop. lb. 


1610. 


8 « 


Robert Boteler. lb. 


1623. 


21 " 


Paul Wymond. Journ. Ho. of Com. 


1641. 


17 Charles I. 


No name.^ 




1700. 


12 William andMary 


. Edward Marten. Journ. Ho. of Com. 


1701. 


13 


John Hopper 


lb. 


1707. 


6 Anne 


Robert A^hdowne. lb. 


1709. 


8 " 


John Pamell. 


lb. 


1713. 


12 " 


The same.* lb. 


1747. 


21 George II. 


Edwin Wardroper. Hastings Corp. Boun- 
daries. 


1754. 


Edw. Wardroper^ 


1766. 


Walter (^bon, deputy 
Richard Wardroper 


55. 


No name preserved 




67. 


56. 


Edw. Wardroper 




68. 


No name preserved 
William Marten* 


57. 


William Marten 




69. 


58.1 
59./ 


No names preserved 




70. 

71. 


Joash Adcroft 
Nathaniel Dawes 


60. 


Edw. Wardroper 
Richard Wardroper 




72. 


Thomas Marten 


61. 




73. 


William Marten 


62. 


Nathaniel Dawes* 




74. 


Thomas Marten 


63. •) 
64./ 


No names preserved 




75. 
•-76. 


William Marten 
Thomas Marten 


65. 


Edw. Wardroper, dep 


uty 


77. 


William Marten 



^By the Act, 17 Chas. II, c. 33, the Mayor (for the time being) and 
Daniel White, a jurat, were appointed Commissioners to call together 
the inhabitants and collect a loan towards the relief of Ireland. ' Scobell's 
Acts and Ordinances, p. 24. 

2 In the Register of Burials, is the following entry: " 1713, Nov. 23. 
Buried, John Pamell, Esq., then mayor. He dyed of the small pox." 

'The names, from 1754 to 1768, (except 1762) are from the audits of 
the Chamberlain's accounts ; but as the accounts were only audited at in- 
tervals, the names are not regularly given each year. 

* Burrow's Reports. 

5 From the Hundred and Assembly Books after 1768. 



Digitized by VjOOQ IC 



MODERN WINCHELSEA. 



S39 



1778. 


Thomas Marten 


1816. 


The Rev. Thomas Raddish 


79. 


William Marten 


17. 


Barwell Browne 


80. 


Thomas Marten 


18. 


Alexander TuUock ^ 


81. 


WiUiam Marten 


19. 


Barwell Brown 


* 82. 


Johp Peters 


20. 


Alexander Tullock 


83. 


Thomas Marten 


21. 


Barwell Browne 


84. 


Joash Adcroft 


22. 


Alexander Tullock 


85. 


Thomas Marten 


23. 


Barwell Browne 


86. 


Joash Adcroft 


24. 


Alexander Tullock 


87. 


Thomas Marten 


25. 


Barwell Browne 


88. 


Joash Adcroft 


26. 


Alexander Tullock 


89. 


Thomas Marten 


27. 


The Rev. Samuel PhiUp 


90. 


Eicliard Lamb 




Sheppard 


91. 


Thomas Marten 


28. 


Alexander Tullock 


92. 


Richard T^amb 


29. 


The Rev. Samuel Philip 


93. 


Thoma& Marten 




Sheppard 


94. 


George Stace 


30. 


Alexander Tullock 


96. 


Thomas Marten 


31. 


The Rev. vSamuel Philip 


96. 


Barwell Brown 




Sheppard 


97. 


Godfrey Scholey 
Barwell Brown 


32. 


William Lipscomb 
The same afterwards 


98. 




99. 


John Shakespear 


33. 


George Morant 


1800. 


Barwell Brown 


34. 


Thomas Dawes 


1. 


Hie Key. Thomas Raddish, 


35. 


John Tilden 




clerk 


36. 


Joseph Hennah 


2. 


Barwell Browne 


37. 


John Beaumont 


3. 


The Rev. Thomas Raddish 


38. 


Richard Stileman 


4. 


Thomas Lloyd 


39. 


Richard Stileman 


5. 


Barwell Browne 


40. 


Thomas Dawes 


6. 


Thomas Lloyd 


41. 


Richard Stileman 


7. 


Barwell Browne 


42. 


Thomas Dawes 


8. 


The Rev. Thomas Raddish 


43. 


Richard Stileman 


9. 


Barwell Browne 


44. 


Joseph Hennah 


10. 


The Rev. Thomas Raddish 


45. 


Ditto 


11. 


Barwell Browne 


46. 


Ditto 


12. 


The Rev. Thomas Raddish 


47. 


Ditto 


13. 


Barwell Browne 


48. 


Ditto 


14. 


The Rev. Thomas Raddish 


49. 


Ditto 


15. 


Barwell Browne 


50. 


William Sergeant 



BARONS AT CORONATIONS. 

The Barons of the Cinque Ports, to the number of thirty- 
two, had the privilege of bearing the canopy, with four silver 
staves, over the King and Queen at Coronations. Of this 
number four were sent from Winchelsea. The costume 
varied from time to time. At the coronation of James II the 
barons wore doublets of crimson satin, scarlet hose, and 

^ Tullock and Sheppard were merely the Duke of Cleveland's managers: 
they were non-resident and nick-named " Grass-mayors." 



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240 MODERN WINCHBLSEA. 

scarlet gowns faced with crimson^ black velvet shoes, with 
caps of the same, fastened to their sleeves.^ At the coronation 
of George III and his Queen, on 22nd Sept., 1761, the 
barons from Winchelsea, who supported the canopies, were^ 

ThoB. O. Hunter . King's canopy. Richd. Wardroper Queen's canopy. 
Geo. Gray . . King's canopy. John Nicholl ^ . Queen's canopy. 

They wore robes of scarlet cloth, like an Oxford Master of 
Arts' gown, faced with scarlet satin, with long slit sleeves, and 
a large cape of scarlet satin, lace ruffles at wrist, scarlet satin 
breeches with white satin knots at the knees, scarlet satin 
waistcoats lined with white, and a small square open cuff of 
white satin, white silk hose, black velvet shoes with scarlet 
thongs and heels, and white satin rosettes, black velvet round 
Spanish cap, sword with cross-carved gilded handle in white 
satin scabbard, and a white satin belt.^ At the coronation of 
George IV, in 1820, the barons from Wiuchelsea wore as 
the dress, a vest of scarlet satin trimmed with tissue lace, 
and buttons worked of the same, the sleeves slashed and 
trimmed with lace, trimk hose of blue «atin slashed with 
scarlet satiu, trimmed as above, red silk stockings, white kid 
shoes with Tosettes of scarlet riband, and trimmed as above, 
a surtout of dark blue satin, quite plain, black Spanish hat 
xmd feather, upstanding frill for neck.* 



^ HoUoAVay's Rye, p. 72. * Mantell's Coronations, p. 20. 

3 Ex. inf., Mr. Geo. Slade Butler. The canopy was of gold brocaded 
tissue, with bullion fringe seven inches deep, lined with silver tissue and 
silver fringe. The bell was silver gilt, of the ordinary hand-bell size. 
Mantell says the stockings were scarlet. 

* Holloway's Bye, p. 73. 



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MODERN WINCHELSEA. 241 

PARLIAMENTARY HISTORY. 

The right of returning Members to Parliament was first 
exercised by Winchelsea, at the same time as by the Cinque 
Ports, 42 Edw. III. The persons then, and for the next two 
centuries, elected, were the principal inhabitants of the town ; 
but by degrees, as the representation became an honor and 
not a burden, strangers, who were admitted to their freedom 
for this purpose only, were, by degrees, introduced. The 
Lord Warden claimed the right of nominating one member ; 
subsequently the representation fell completely into the hands 
of the Treasury, and ultimately into those of a Patron. The 
right of election was in the mayor, jurats, and freemen ; but 
for the patron's purposes, the number of freemen was reduced 
so low, that in 1792, the number of legal voters was only 
three, and in 1832, it was only nine. 

The History of the Corporation will have given our readers 
a clear insight into' the mode by which the object of the patron 
was eflFected, and we must refer those who wish for a detailed 
history of the parliamentary contests, to Horsfield's History 
of Sussex.^ We may, however, state here, that for his illegal 
conduct, especially in excluding the Tildens from voting, the 
mayor, Paul Wymond, was, in 1623, committed by the Com- 
mons to prison : and that, in 1700, Mr. Edward Marten, the 
mayor, was also committed for ^^threats and indirect practices." 

The last instance, which we have discovered, of anything 
like an approach to independence on the part of the electors, 
was in March, 1680-1, when the following address was agreed 
upon.2 

To their Barons, Sir Steven Lenon and Creswel Draper, Esquire, elected 
in their absence, March 4, 1680-1, and orderedby the mayor and jurates 
to be presented to them ; the said Mr. Draper serving for them in the 
last parliament. 

Mr, Draper, 
You may ^sure your self that we are very highly satisfied with your 

1 Pari. History, by W. D. Cooper, vol. 2, app. p. 72. » State Tracts, 1692. 



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242 MODEKN WINCHELSEA. 

unwearied pains, as abo of your honest discharge of the great trust we 
reposed in you in the last parliament, by our hearty thanks we now 
return you, and by our unanimous electing you again to serve for us in 
the next parliament to be holden at Oxford. 

And gentlemen, as for you both, we know you are so sensible of our 
condition, that we need not tender you our thoughts in many particulars ; 
only the preservation of His Sacred Majesty's person, our religion, and 
properties, which are of the greatest concern and most dear unto us, and 
especially in order thereunto we commend unto you, and desire you to 
use your utmost endeavours. 

1. — That there may be a full and perfect discovery of that most hellish 
and damnable Popish plot in England and Irelimd, and all other sham 
plots, which have been wickedly contriving and acting for many years past. 

2. — ^That effectual means be used for uniting all his Majesty's protestant 
subjects against the common enemy, both at home and abroad. 

3. — ^That all effectual means and ways may be provided to secure us 
against a Popish successor, and particularly against James Duke of York. 

4. — ^That you will endeavour as far a& in you lies, that a law may be 
made for putting our free-lands and houses under a voluntary register, 
that thereby this kingdom may be a just and honorable fund, whereby 
moneys may be taken up upon all urgent occasions, and so prevent the 
great mines we now lie under for want thereof. 

5. — That you will use your utmost endeavours to put a brand upon 
those abominable monsters which were the pensioners in the late long 
parliament, that thereby the generations to come may be deterred from 
attempting the like unheard of villiany. 

6. — ^That you will vigorously and carefully represent to the rest of your 
fellow members the present condition of the royal navy, as also of the 
stores, castles, and forts, which are under God the bulwarks of England ; 
and that such effectual ways and means may be found out and prosecuted 
for the better securing and imjuroving the navy ; as also that none may 
be employed therein but such persons as are of known integrity and loy- 
alty, both to the King and nation ; and that all debauch'd and unskilful 
persons now employed may be removed, and men fearing God, loving 
truth, and hating covetousness, may be put in their places : that so our 
present fears may be abated, and thereby the dreadful growing power of 
France may be timely checked. 

Gentlemen, — ^In the pursuance of these good ends, and such other as 
you shall think conducing to the happiness of the King and kingdom, 
we shall stand by you with our lives and fortunes. 



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MODERN WINCHELSEA. 

In 1700 the Treasury were the patrons : but they did not 
escape contests ; for, in 1710, their candidates, Robt. Bristow, 
Esq., and Sir Francis Dashwood, polled ten each, and their 
opponents, WiUiam Penn and Richard Jones, polled twelve 
each, of whom, however, the mayor rejected all but two. In 
1741, their candidates were opposed by E. H. Beaghan, and 
Samuel Jeake, Esqrs. In 1747, their candidates were the 
Hon. J. Mordaunt, who polled fifteen, and Thomas Orby 
Hunter, Esq., who polled twelve, against three votes given 
for Visct. Donerayle. In 1754, Mr. Arnold Nesbit was 
returned by the Treasury, and afterwards succeeded so far in 
establishing his own private interest, that, in 1768, his candi- 
dates wholly defeated the Government : Thos. Orby Hunter, 
polling twenty-three, and the Earl of Thomond, twenty ; whilst 
Sir Thomas Sewell and Richd. Burton Philipson, Esq., polled 
only eight each. In 1790, the patronage became the pro- 
perty of Richard Barwell, Esq., and the Eaxl of Darlington : 
the latter afterwards purchased Mr. Barwell's interest, and 
was the patron when the Reform Act of 1832, disfranchised 
this town. 

The parishes of St. Thomas and St. Giles have been placed 
within the Electoral District of Rye town, and the right of 
voting for the members for that town is exercised by the 
inhabitants of £10 houses in Winchelsea, of whom, forty-one 
are on the present register. 

The Boundary Act of 1882, did not alter the right of the £10 
householders within the Liberty of St. Leonard to vote for 
Hastings, and there is one registered voter for the borough 
eight miles distant. 

The list t)f the members returned to parliament between 
1473 and 1663 has been lost ; but the Dering MSS. contain 
valuable entries of members from the Cinque Ports during 
this period. It will be seen from the following list that so 
late as the time of Elizabeth, the mayor was not Tinfrequently 
returned as a member to parliament. 



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244 



MODERN WINCHELSEA. 



MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT, 







EDWARD III. 


1369. 


Robert Bettercock 


Robert Londeneys 


72. 


Robert Baddyng 




73. 


Robert Londoneys 


Thomas Sibb 


74. 


Robert Harrys 


Gervase Loveron 


77. 


Robert Baddyng, mayor Robert Arnold 






BICHARD II, 


78. 


Robert Loudon 


William Wells 


79. 


William Skele 


Roger Danere 


83. 


The same 


John Pulham 


84. 


The same 


Thomas Bett 


84. 


John Pulham 


The same 


86. 


The same 


William Martyn 


87. 


William Skele 


John Pulham 


88. 


The same 


Robert Harri, m^yor 


89. 


Henry Cely 


Math. Goldyne 


90. 


William Skele 


Roger Dover 


92. 


The same 


Vincent Ewele 


93. 


Robert Arnold 


Thomas Bett 


95. 


Vincent Fynch 


William Skele 


97. 


The same 


John de Helde 
HENRY IV. 


1400. 


Robert Gate 


William Skele 


2. 


Vincent Fynch 


John Saleme 


7. 


John Sugem 


Robert Fishlake 


10. 


Roger Bates 


John Tounstell 
HENRY V. 


13. 


Roger atte Gate 


Thomas Young 


14. 


The same 


William Cotton 


19. 


Vincent Finch 


John Warton 


20. 


Roger atte Gate 


Edw. Hopyere 


21. 


The same • 


Alexander Beuley 
HENRY VI. 


22. 


The same 


John Tamworth 


24. 


Thomas Young 


Alexandei' Beuley 


25. 


Thomas Thondyr 


The same 


26. 


John Frenshe 


William Cotton 



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MODERN WINCHBLSEA. 



245 



t27. 


Roger atte Gate 


John Tamworth 


28. 


William Alard 


William Moorfot 


29. 


The same 


The same 


30. 


Thomas Thondyr 


Godard Pulham 


32. 


William Finch 


William Pope 


35. 


Thomas Thondyr 


The same 


36. 


William Alard 


Richard Hendnes 


41. 


John Godfrey 


Thomas Sylton 


44. 


William Alard 


The same 


48. 


John Godfrey 


Geoffiry Pulham 


49. 


John Clive 


John Westboume 


50. 


John Cobbey 


Alan Honywood 


52. 


Thomas Silton 


John Convers 
EDWARD IV. 


73. 


Robert Bossele 


Richard Davy 
HENRY VII.l 


1st. 


John Convers 


John Godard 



12th. Richard Marcham 



Richard Barkeley, valectus corone 
Domini Regis 



HENRY VIII. 

1st. Thomas Ashbomeham Robert Sparowe 

14th. The same, mayor The same 

25th. Thomas Ensyng George Lowes 

33rd. John , mayor Philip Chewte 



EDWARD VI. 



Ciriac Petytt 
7th. William Eglestone 
1553. William Roper 



Joseph Beverley 
Michael Blount 



54. The same 



MARY. 

Henry Crispe, Knt. 

PHILIP AND MARY. 



54. William Eglestone 

55. Thomas Smyth 

57. George Howard, Knt. 



John Cheney 
John Poyton 
John Fowler 



1 The list, from 1473 to 1553, is taken from the Dering MSS. 

33 



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246 IfODSBN WmCHELSEA. 







ELIZABETH. 


1558. 


Goddard White 


Henry Vane 


63. 


Richard Chambrey 


The same 


71. 


Thomas Wildford 


Robert Eyre 


72. 


Thomas Wiidford, mayor Richard Barry 


83. 


GUes Fletcher, L.L.D. 


Herbert Pelham 


86. 


Adam Moyle 


Thomas Eglestone 


88. 


Herbert Morley 


Adam Moyle 


92. 


Adam Ashbomham 


Ashbumham Pecke 


97. 


Ralph Eyans 


Thomas Culpepper 


1601. 


Moyle Finch, Knt 


Hugh Beeston 
JAMES I. 


3. 


Adam White 


Thomas Unton 



14. Edward Barcit, Knt. 

20. Thomas Finch, Knt and Bart Edward Nicholson 

23. John Finch Edward Nicholas 

CHARLES I. 

125. Ralph Freeman, Knt Roger Twisden, SLnt 

Nicholas Sanders, Knt The same 

28. William Twisden, Bart. Ralph Freeman, Knt 

40. Nic. Crispe^ (excluded) John Finch: ob. 1642 

Henry Oxenden (vice Crispe, Samuel Gott * (vice Finch) 
secluded) 

COMMONWEALTH. 

68-9. John Busbridge Robert Fowle 

60. William Howard, second son Samuel Gott 



of E. Lord Howard, 
Eserick 


of 


61. The same 


Sir Nicholas Crispe 


78. Creswel Draper 


Thomas Austine 


81. The same 


Sir Stephen Lenon 



1 2 Feb. 1640-1. Upon Mr. Perd's report from the Committee of Mo- 
nopolists, it was resolved upon the question that Sir Nicholas Cripps is a 
monopolist, in joint execution of the patent for coperas stores, and so 
within the Order of the House made agaiast monopolists, and ought not 
to sit as a member in the house, and that a warrant issue for a new writ 
Joum. of Ho. of Commons, vol. 2, p. 77. 

2 William Smith of the Middle Temple, elected a burgess for Winchel- 
sea, 1604. Hayley. 



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MODERN WINCHELSEA, 



247 



1685. Creswel Draper* 



JAMES ir. 

Lord Middleton * 

Arthur St. Leger Viscount Doneraile 
(vice Middleton) 

WILLIAM AND MARY. 



88. 


Richard Austine 


Samuel Western 


90. 


The same 


Thesa^e 


95. 


The same 


The same 


98. 


John Hayes 


Robert Bristow 


roi. 


The same 


Robert Austine 

ANNE. 


2. 


The same 


George Clerk 


7. 


The same 


George Dodington 


8. 


Robert Bristow 


The same ^ 

Sir Francis Bashwood, Knt and 
Bart (vice Dodington) 


to. 


The same 


The same 


13. 


The same 


George Dodington 
GEORGE I. 


14. 


The same 


George Bubb Dodington 


22. 


The same 


The same 3 

Thomas Townsend (vice Dodington) 


27. 


The same 


John Scrope* 


27. 


The same 


Sir Arthur Croft, Bart* 
Peter Walter (vice Croft)- 

GEORGE II. 


34. 


The same 


Edward Hungate Beaghan 


41. 


Arthur Vise. Boneraik 


J Thomas Orby Hunter 


47. 


John Mordaunt 


The same 


54. 


Thomas Orby Hunter 


Arnold Nesbit 



^ In 2 Jac. n, Lord Middleton was returned in pursuance of a pretended 
claim in the Q-own, that the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports has a 
power to recommend and nominate one baron for each port to any 
parliament. 

' Made his election for Bridgewater. 

3 Made his election for Bridgewater. 

* Made his election for Bristol. 

* Made his election for Beeralston. 



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248 MODERN WINCHELSEA. 

1V64. George Gray* 

60. Thomas Orby Hunter Arnold Nesbit 

GEORGE III. 

61. The same Percy, Earl of Thomond « 

Thomas Sewell 

68. The same* Percy, Earl of Thomond* 

Arnold Nesbit (vice Hunter) WiUiam Nedham (vice Earl of Tho- 
mond) 

74. The same* Charles W. Cornwall 

William Nedham (vice Nesbit) 

80. John Nesbit The same 

84. The same William Nedham 

90. William Viscount Barnard * Richard Barwell 

92. Sir Frederick F. Vane, Bart.' 

John H. Addington (vice 
Vane) 

96. William Currie The same ^ 

William Devaynes (vice Barwell) 

1801. The same The same 

2. Robert Ladbroke William Moffatt 

6. Sir F. Vane, Bart. Calverley Bewicke 

7. Sir Fred. F. F. VaUe, Bart. The same 

Sir Oswald Mosley, Bart, 
(vice Vane) 

12. Hon. W. J. F. Vane. He The same 
changed his name to Pow- 
lett9 

^ Made Steward of the manor of Old Shoreham, county of Sussex. 
A new writ ordered March 31, 1760. 

* Made Cofferer of His Majesty's Household. A new writ ordered No- 
vember 28, 1761. He was elected for Minehead. 

3 Died. A new writ ordered January 10, 1770. 

* Died. New writ issued in 1774. 

^ Made his election for Cricklade. A new writ ordered February 21, 
1775. 

6 Succeeded to the Peerage as Earl of Darlington, A new writ issued 
October 9, 1792. 

' He was chosen for the city of Durham. 

^ Made Steward of the manor of East Hendred, county of Berks. A 
new writ ordered November, 1796. 

* Made Steward of the manor and hundred of East Hendred, in the 
county of Berks; and a new writ ordered July, 1815. 



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MODERN WINCHELSEA. " 249 



1815. Henry Brougham (vice 
Powlett)* 

16. Right Hon. Henrv Vane Vise. Bar- 

nard (vice Cfalverley Bewicke, 
deceased)' 

18. The same George Mills 

GEORGE IV. 

20. The same Lucius Concannon 

23, William Leader (vice Concannon) 

26. The same Right Hon. Henry Viscount Howick 

(HOW Earl Grey) 

WILLIAM IV. 

30. John Williams Hon. Henry Dundas ^ 

31. Stephen Lushington (vice Dundas) 

31. The same. He was after- James Brougham 
wards made a Justice of the 
Queen*s Bench 

These were the last, two members. They supported the 
Reform Bill, and the disfranchisement of this petty borough. 



* The election took place 21st July, 1815, when " Henry Brougham, of 
Brougham, in the county of Westmoreland," was unanimously elected, 
&c., "and being present at his election, took the oath of freeman, and 
the oath of a baron, and also the oaths of allegiance, supremacy, and 
adjuration." Corporation Records. This attendance was not usual: 
the members were ordinarily nominated in their absence on the receipt of 
a letter from the patron. The oath of a freeman was taken in pursuance 
of a resolution come to at a Questling held on 22nd July, 14th Elizabeth, 
when it was ordered that none should " be chosen member of parliament 
for any of the ports, unless he were a freeman and an inhabitant of some 
one of the ports." Harris' Kent, p. 481. If a new member did not 
attend at the election, the oaths were respited. 

2 Election 12th February. 

'Made Steward of East Hendred. New election 4th April, 1831. 



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INDEX. 



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INDEX. 



The following Index does not include the Names of the Householders at the building of the New 
Town, in 1285 (see p. 44); of the Masters and Constables of Vessels (see pp. 55, 59, 68); of the 
Freemen exempted in the Non. Inq. (see p. 87); of the Bailiffs of the Town (see p. 114); of the 
Bailiffsto Yarmouth {see p. U9); of the Rectors (see j^. 141,144,191) i vf the Mayors (see p. 237); 
or of the Members of Parliament (see p, 244.) 



Aberconway, 23. 

Accident to Edw. I, at W., 36, 67. 

Accounts (Chamberlain's), 117^ 121 n., 
194 n., 196 n., 213. 

of town (1388) 203, (1399) 205. 

Ade Family, inscription to, 139. " 

Admiral of Cinque Ports, 8, 60, 67, 83, 84, 
156, 167. 

Advowsons, {see Patronage.) 

Alard, family of, 22, 59, 87, 88, 114, 115, 
.119, 120, 155, 161 ; abbot, 165 ; arms 
of, 134, 165; chantry, 123, 130; Ger- 
vase, Admiral of Cinque Ports, 60, 156 ; 
tomb of, 133; John, 43, 59, 157; Ni- 
cholas, 136, 158, 161 ; Reginald, 136, 
156, 158; Robert, 157; Stephen, Ad- 
miral of Cinque Ports, 60, 156 ; tomb 
of, 134; Stephen, 157* 168; Thomas, 
41, 156; William, 156. 

Alee, Robert, 233. 

Alcotch, old name of Broomhill, 5. 

Aldersey, Terry, 158. 

Aldertoa Family, 147* 

Aldrington, manor of, Kent, 155. 

Ale, made in foreign, 225 {see also Beer.) 

Allen, John, 110. 

Amnophila Amndinacea, 174. 

Anketel, 155. 

Anne, Queen of James I, grant to, 169. 

Anthony, St., Preceptory of, 152. 

Appeal of freemen, 222. 

Appledore, 1, 9, 21, 91 , 186, 187^ 206, etseq. 

Archbishops {see Canterbury.) 

Armada, Spanish, 182. 

Arms of Alard, 134, 155 ; Ashburnham, 
171; Carryll, 170; Colepepper, 66; 
Curteis, 171 ; Dawes, 152; De la Pole, 
152; Denne, 112; Egliston, 166 n. ; 
Egremont, Earl of, 112; Famcombe, 
167 ; Finch, 159, l6l ; Godfrey, 166 ; 
Guldeford, 168 ; Helde, 95 ; Lewknor, 
199 ; Londeneys, 163 ; Millner, 147 ; 
Oxenbridge, 134 ; Pecke, 107 ; Pole de 
la, 152; Porter, 94; Stileman, 149; 
Tregoz, 29 ; Winchelsea, Earl of, 159, 
161 ; Robert de, 23, 27 ; town of, 198. 

Arnald, Richard, 206; Robert, 85, 88, 
103, 206, et seq. 

Arrays to succour W., 83, 102, 103, 204, 
209. 

Arrests of goods of foreign debtors, 221. 

ships {see Ships.) 

Arsenal, naval, at, 9. 

Arundel, Richard Fitz Alan, Earl" of, 
79n., 80. 

haven of, 183, 185. 

Ashburnham Family, 86, 107, 109, 113, 
116, 141, 171) 180, 233f et seq, ; arms 
of, 171. 

Assembly, common, 194 ; mode of call- 
ing, 196. 

Attacks on town, 69, 70, 80, 81, 88, 101, 
129, 143, 204. 

Austin Family, 167- 



Bacan, John, lands taken, 43. 

Bacon, William, 150. 

Badding, Alexander, 59. 

Baddyng, Richard, 150 ; Robert, 56, 88. 

Bailiffs of town, 19, 22, 59^ 66, 108, 

113, 169, 208, 218, 223 ; list of, 114. 

water, 113, 192, 197, 237. 

to Yarmouth, 119,167, 160,202, 

204, 207; list of, 119. 

of Higham, 114 n., 168. 

Baker, John, 189 ; Henry, 65. 
Baldwin Family, inscription to, 139. 
Ballad Singer's Plat, 40, 228, 234. 
Banastre, Thomas, pardon to, 80. 
Barges fiimished by W., 101. 
Barlow, Bishop^ 142. 
Barnes, Jos., extracts from, 69, 79 n. 
Barons' war, 17. 

at coronation, 239 ; to parlia- 
ment, 244. 
Barracks, 111 ; at Silver Hill, 180. 
Barrels of beer, 205, et seq. 
Bartholomew, St., hospital of, 16, 37, 

40, 109, 154, 227. 

field, 220, 231, 235. 

Barwell, Richard, 148, 243. 

Baseley, Richard, 104. 

Bates' lands, 173. 

Battail, Robert, Admiral of Cinque 

Ports, 67, 84. 
Battesford, William de, 88, 93, 103. 
Battlb Abbey, lands, &c., of, 16, 29, 

43, 87, 88, 96, 130, 132, 153, 157, 168, 

169. 
abbot of, gallant conduct, 89, 

91, 93 ; abbots of, 203, 204. 
-town of, 17, 36, 204. 



Battle of Beachy Head, 186 ; Terrocene 

160, n. ; trade, 160. 
Battles (see Naval engagements). 
Bayham Abbey, 160 ». 
Bayonne, 101. 
Beach, Camber, 169. 

Cliflfe, 173. 

Beachey Head, 41, 42. 

fight, 186. 

Beacon at Fairlight, 202, 203, 204. 

Beaghan, E. H., 243. 

Beaksbourne, 54, 183. 

Bealknappe, Robert de, 93. 

Bear Square, 40, 111. 

Beaver, N. P., 148. 

Beche, John de la, 162. 

Bedford, John, Duke of, 98. 

Beef, carcase of, for ships, 205. 

Beer for ships, 205, et seq. 

Bellerd, William de, 69. 

Bell, Morrice, 41 {see also Pell and Pet 

Morrice.) 
Bells of Rye recovered from French, 91 ; 
tower, 129 ; cess for, 166 ; of St. 

Giles, 143, 202, 203. 
Benden, John, 229. 
Benevolence, 105, 
34 



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254 



INDEX. 



Beneyt Family, 167. 

Benglesthorpe, John, and GodWa his 

wife, 94. 
Bernard, John, 96. 
Berwick, 56 n. 

Bette, or Beute, Thomas, 207* 208. 
Beuelay, Alexander, 100. 
Bexhill, 167. 
Biddenden, 155, 158. 
Birling Gap, 183. 

Bishops {fee Chichester, Doyer, Ely). 
Bishopston, 183. 

Blaaaw, W. H., 10 n., 60 a., 62 n. 
Black Pbincb, Edward the, fights at 

Battle of W., 74, 77 ; record of, 79. 
Blackwall in Northiam, 186. 
Black Wbll {see Strand Well). 
Blatchington, 167, 183. 
Blockhouses on coast, 176. 
Bloodshed, 223. 

BoDiAM Castle, 116; bridge, 180, 181. 
Bolton, Francis, 109, 154. 
Bone, Bartholomew, 59; John, lands 

taken, 43. 
Bongylstherste, Godard, 103. 
Boots, Thomas, 232. 
Boteler or Butler, Robert, 164, 178, 213, 

214. 
Botting, Nicholas, 110. 
Boulogne, 7, 69. 

Boundary of Camber beach and salts, 
173 ; liberty of Old W., 11 ; New W., 41, 
42 ; Rye harbour jurisdiction, 42 ; St. 
Leonard's liberty, 188. 
Bourne, John, 159. 
Bowcliffe or Beach Cliffe, 173. 
Bowling Green, 166. 
Brabant Merchants, 59, 157. 
Brames, Luder, 104. 
Brasses in church, 136. 
Bray, George, 233 ; James, 233 ; William, 

211. 
Bread for ships, 205, et seq, 
Breadman, Richard, 108. 
Brede Level, 1 ; church of, 3, 141 n., 
162; reserved to Fischampe, 12, 80; 
manor of, 12 n., 191 ; Londeneys, re- 
move to, 39 ; Etchingham imparks, 54 
n. ; Edw. I at, 55 ; chancel of church, 
162 ; Foard place at, 162, 163. 

John de, 88. 

Bredon, John de, 69. 
Breene, Richard, 236. 
Brensete, Alan, 207* 
Beesen, Agnes, 109. 

Brewers, 205 ; may make ale in foreign, 
225. 

-— marsh, 190, 191, 230, 236. 

Bridges of Higham, 39 ; Panel, 207 ; 

Pypewell, 81, 85, 189. 
Brighthelmstone, 183. 
Bristol, 72, 99. 

Bristow, Robert, 227, 230, 243. 
Brittany, John, Duke of, 160. 
Brittany, ships of, 97, 237 R. 
Brodhill, the, 202, 204, et seq. 
Brokers chusing, 227. 
Bromhaw, 4, 171. 
Brook, George, 213. 
Broomhill, town of, 5, 7, 14, 21,42, 

168, 198. 
Brougham, Henry, Lord, 249 n. 
Brown Andrew, 104. 
Bruges, complaint of, 10, 67. 
Brus, Robert de, 62. 
Bulverhithe, ships of, 54, 183. 
Bunny s of beer, 206. 



Bures, John de, 237 n. 
Burgalsherte, John, 97. 
Burgesses of W., 4. 
Borgh, Hubert de, services of, 8. 
Burgham, Richard, 103. 
Burghamme, Robert de, 203, et seq. 
Burgher sh, Bartholomew de, 168. 
Burgundy, Duke of, 97. 
Bornt-house orchard, 234. 
Bury St. Edmund*s, 56. 

Nicholas de, and Dionesia his wife, 

104. 
Butchery orchard, 230, 234. 
Butler,Geo.Slade, 240 n. («ee also Boteler). 
Butress flying, 129. 
Buxle, 160. 
Byng, Capt. W., 164. 

Cadwell, Mr., 229. 

Calais, 71, 72, 75, 97,102, 104, 210, 224. 
Camber, the, 41, 83, 94, 101, 102, 104, 
207, 209, 210 ; beach marsh and salts, 
169 ; boundary of, 172 ; castle, 105, 164, 
174, 214 ; captains of, 176, 177 ; creek, 
169, 173. 180, 182; farm. 2, 170; miU^ 
tary review at, 180; shipwreck of Sir 
T. Finch at, 162. 
Camberwell, 157. 
Cambrics, manufacture of, 121. 
Cambridge, St. John's College, 164 ; 

Mary's visit to, 162. 

Campanile, 129. 

Campion Family, 167. 

Canal, milita^, 4. 

Canopies at coronations, 208, 239. 

Cant, Samuel, survey by, 188, 190. 

Canterbury. Archbishop of, threat of 

excommunication by, 19; Robert of 

Winchelsea, 23 ; Peckham, 23, 145 ; 

Chicheley H., 97 ; writ to, 57 ; lands 

of, 9, 94. . 
Prior of Christ's Church at, 

158, 202, 203. 

St. George's Gate at, 165. 

Capenesse, 156. 

Captains of Camber Castle, 176, 177, 

178, 179. 
Carite, Benj., 156. 
Carr, Lieut. William, 180. 
Carryll Family, ll6, 170, 180, 217, 

230, 231 ; arms of, 170. 
Carjftee, Benedict, 60. 
Castle Camber, 105, 174 ; Bodiam, 1 16 ; 

Deal, 164; Walmer, 175; Pevensey, 

183, 207 ; Dover, 168, 204. 
Castle fields, 65, 112, 191, 229, 236. 
Catherine of Arragon, 162. 
Catsfield, 108. 

Cans, Sir Ralph, knt., 237 n. 
Causes, the Winchelsea, 215. 
Caux, Isle of, attacked, 82. 
Cely, Benedict, 68, 205; Henry, 204; 

Robert, 150. 
Cemeteries. St. Giles, 43, 81, 143, 

198 n., 210; St. Leonard's, 189, 190; 

St. Thomas, 43. 
Chair, Mayor's, 202. 
Chamberlain, 117, 121 n., 192, 194 n., 

195, 196 n., 213 {see also Accounts.) 
Chandos, Sir John, tune of a German 

dance, 75. 
Chantries: Alard's,123; Famcombe's 

or Godfrey's, 109, 123, 130, 163 ; Ni- 
cholas, St., 103, 123, 130. 
Chapels, supposed by Grose to be in, 

37 n. ; penitential, 129 (see Chantries); 
field, 153, 235. 



Digitized by VjOOQ IC 



INDEX. 



255 



Chapel, Wesleyan, 154. 

Charcoal, 120, 205. 

Charities, none, 114. 

Charles II, grant to Guldeford's, 170. 

Charlton, manor of, 3 n. 

Charm connected with St. Leonard's Well, 
38. 

Charters for founding New town, 31 ; 
of liberties, 63, 95 ; to town by Eliza- 
beth, 108. 

Chartham, Kent, 125. 

Cherry Garden, 233. 

Chesson or Cheston, Richard, 150, 198 n., 
227.- 

Chesont or Chesson's Field, 112, 150, 
151, 234. 

Chesterfield, Earl of, 187. 

Chewte, George, 172. 

Chichester, Bishops of: Sir William 
Ashbornham, 116, 171, 234, et seq. ; 
Stephen de Berghestede, 22 ; William 
Barlow, 142; Hilary, 1 55 ; Robert Reade, 
207 ; Richard de la Wych, 15. 

port of, 183. 

Chilcenham (Gloucestershire) exchanged 
forW., 11. 

Chowte, Capt. PhiHp, 147, 151, 176, 177. 

Christ's share tithe of fishery, 140. 

Churches in Old W., 14 ; New W., 34, 
37 ; St. Thomas, 122 ; St. Giles, 143 ; 
St. Leonard's, 191 {see a2so Brede, Has- 
tings, and Icklesham.) 

CiNdUE Ports, W., added to, 6 ; fleet of 
(see Fleet) ; custody of, 17 ; position 
of W. amongst, 54 ; costume of navy, 
105 n. ; fights with Yarmouth, 117. 

Cleveland, Duke of, 239 n. {see also Dar- 
lington, Lord.) 

Cliflf End (Clivesend), 20, 187. 

Clifford, Lord, 102. 

Clive Atte, 20 n., 85 n. 

Clock striking, 202, 206, 210. 

Cloth of Gold, field of, 162. 

Clothes, price of in 1610, 166. 

Clyfford, George, grants to, 147, 161. 

Clynton, Lord John, 104. 

Robert, 114. 

Mary, da. of Sir Thoi., 165. 

Cobb, Thomas, 213. 

Cobeham, John de, 30. 

Cobran, Stephen, 59. 

Cockeram, Uapt. Richard, 179. 

Coket, John, and Alicia his wife, 97, 103. 

Colepepper, arms of, 65; Robert, 186; 
Sir Thomas, 65. 

Cologne, complaint by, 10. 

Colyns Family, 106, 167. 

Commission, Kings to assign places, 
303. 

Commons, Ho. of, order to dismantle 
Camber Castle, 179 ; committee on Rye 
harbour, 185 ; list of members, 244. 

CoMPOSTELLA, pilgrimages to shrine of 
St. James, 98. 

Coney field, 40, 230, 237. 

Connaway, Capt. James, 184. 

Constables, 192, 197. 

of ships, 56, 59, 62, 68, 206. 

Cook's Green {see Greens.) 

Cooper Family, 167 ; Thomas, 213, 229. 

Cop Grey's road, 93. 

Corbeaux, Mr., 121. 

Corn, prices of, 20 n., 166. 

Comey, Bolton, 160 n. 

Comhethe, 16. 

Cornwall, 157. 

Edmund, Earl of, 27. 



Coronation, fireworks at, 196 n. ; cano- 
pies for, 208, 239 ; costume of barons, 
239 ; right of W. at, 226. 

Coroner, 218. 

Corporation, 192. 

Costume of barons at coronations, 240 ; 

Cinque Ports navy, 105 n. 

County Rate, rate in nature of, 198. 
Court Days, 197, 221. 

of GuestUng {see Guestling.) 

House, 40, 113, 202, 205, 233. 

Hundred, 192. 

Record, 197. 

Wall, 41. 

Courtney, Robt. de, 8. 

Covenant, plea of, 221. 

Cowpare, William, 206. 

Cows, price of in 1610, 166. 

Crape, Italian manufacture, 121. 

Crawfurd, John, 232. 

Crecy, victory of, 71. 

Credence Table, 123. 

Crcgge, 104. 

Crooked Acre, 41, 198 n., 199 n., 230, 

231, 236, 237. 
Cross, Holy, of W., 37, 41 {see also Holy 

Rood). 
Crouch Family, 167. 
Cruce, Robert de, lands taken, 43. 
Crudde, Sewale, 206. 
Cryoll, Robert de, 156. 
Crypts in, 38 n., 39, 111, 150. 
Cuckmere haven, 183, 185. 
Cupbearer to Edw. Confessor, 160 n. 
Cupesley, Henry, 172. 
Curfew, 202, 204. 
CuRTEis, Rev. Thos., pays the 2d, 3d, 

and 4th rents for Camber, and not Mrs. 

Curteis, as in text, 170 n. 
Family, 69, 113, 116, 171 ; arms 

of, 171. 
Cust, Capt. WiUiam, 184. 
CUSTOMAL, 217, 218. 
Custom dues, 114 n., 166, 168. 
Custumer and Deputy of Port, 100. 

Dalkey, near Dublin, 66. 

Dallyngrygge Family, 92, 102, 202, 203. 

Dance, German, tune of, 75. 

Darlington, Earl of, 148, 243 {see also 
Cleveland, Duke of). 

Dartmouth, 72, 102. 

Dashwood, Sir Francis, 243. 

Dauneswalle, 84, 85. 

Davey, Richard, 104. 

Davinton, grant to nuns of, 15. 

Dawes Family, 167 ; arms of, 162 ; in- 
scriptions to family, 137, 138; Edwin, 
233, 234; Nathaniel, 215, 216, 232; 
Thomas, 36, 40, 112, 122, 152. 

Deadman's Lane, 81, 198 n. 

Deal, 97. 

Castle, 164. 

Debt, Plea of, 221. 

Debtor, foreign, arrest of goods, 221. 

Deleaupenny. 183. 

Dene or Denne Family, 110, 112, 160; 

inscriptions to, 138 ; W. J., 200 n. 
Dengemarsh, 66. 
Denison, Joseph, 109. 
Dering MSS., account of, 22 n., 202, 216, 

243. 
Dertemuthe, Austin, 210. 
Devenish, John, 102. 
Devereux, Sir John, 203. 
DiART of Thomas Godfrey, 164, 212. 
Dickeson, Zaccheus, 229. ^ j 

Digitized by VjOOQ IC 



256 



INDEX. 



Dieppe, 98, 101, 185. 
Digges, Thomas, 182. 
Disputes, corporation, 211 ; of Cinque < 

Ports with London, 217 n. 
Distraint on a portman, 224. 
Ditch of Higham, 39, 189 ; Icklesham 
manor, 41 ; Kent, 173 ; St. Leonard's, 
41 ; town, 41, 236. 
Donerayle, Visct., 191, 243. 
Doomsday, description in, 3. 
DooRWAT in church, 125, 126. 
Dover, army to resist Louis at, 7, 8 ; 
castle, 168, 204 ; town and harbour of, 
18, 59 n., 71, 97, 130, 157, 177, 178, 
182, 183, 185, 202, 203, 205. 

Richard, Bishop of, 146. 

Roger de, 205. 

Downe, John, 103. 

Downs, the, 102. 

Draper, Creswel, 241. 

Drogheda. 62. 

Drury, James, 236. 

Dublin, 62, 66. 

Dubs of port, 206, 210; town, 168, 198, 

227, 232. 
Dugdale imbanking, extracts from, 60, 

86,93. 
Dungeness, 63. 
Dummer, Edward, 183. 
Durham, Bishop, ship of, 55. 
Durrante Family, 109, 110. 
Dymnok manor exchanged for Higham 

and Iden, 31, 33. 
Dymsdale, Forest of, 4 ; rivulet, 4 ; way 

and marsh, 4, 93. 
Dyne, Sophia, inscription to, 137. 



Eadgar has a mint at W., 8. 

Eagle, honour of the, 157. 

Eagles shot at W., 149. 

Eastbourne, 183. 

Easton, Thomas, 233, 234. 

Ecclesiastical foundations, 122. 

Edmund, brother of Edw. I, 55, 156, 

Edward Confessor, grant by, 3; cup- 
bearer to, 160 n. 

I, as prince, punishes piracies 

at, 19 ; state of town temp., 19 ; visits 
town, 20 ; marriage of, 24 ; founds new 
town, 29 ; grants charter to found, 31 ; 
visits the walls, &c., 35, 56 ; accident 
to, 35, 57 ; visits Udimore, 55, 56 ; 
sails from W., 56; composes differ- 
ences with Yarmouth men, 118; grants 
Higham to his wife Eleanor, 168. 

II summons ship6, 62 ; con- 
firms charters, 63 ; founds Blackfriars 
House, 67, 149 ; grants Higham to his 
wife, 168. 

Ill requires aid of ports, 67 ; 



attacks Spaniards off W., 74 ; his queen 
at 79 ; lands at Rye, 82 ; visits Win- 
chelsea, 84. 

IV licences chantry fotmdation, 



131. 



Edward Black Prince fights in engage- 
ment off W., 74, 77 ; record of 79. 

Egliston or Eccleston Family, 109, 
110, 164, 165, 213 ; arms of, 165 n. 

Egremont, Earl of, 112, 116, 170, 217; 
arms of, 112. 

Eleanor, Countess of Montford, 18. 

daughter of Edw. I, 56 n. 

wife of Edw. I, grant to, 168. 

Electors {see voters). 

Elewayre, William, 73. 



Elizabeth, Queen, visits W., 107 ; 

makes a grant to town, 108. 

O. of Edw. IV, 131. 

a of Henry VII, 159. 

Elliott, John, 234. 

Elm tree, large, felled, 143. 

Ely, Bishop of, 20 a., 29, 35, 42, 43, 53. 

Elys, John, 208, 209. 

Embanking, 60, 84, 93, 103, 104, 157, 

161. 
Essche, John de, 206; Philip de, 22. 
Essex, Robert, 204. 
Estria, Henry de, 23. 
Etchinghams, 48, 162 {see also Bede and 

Udimore.) 
Eton, Wey, Fellow of, 100. , 

£u. Earls of, 16. 
Ewhurst, 160. 

Exclusos, ships to repair to, 58, 
Executors, proceedings with, 221. 
Exeter, Duke of, embarkation, 97. 
Expenditure of Thomas Godfrey, 165. 



Fair, 117, 165, 196 n. 
FaIRLIGHT, 1, 21, 93, 122, 158. 

Beacon, 202, 203, 204. 

Falmouth, 102. 

Families in old W., 22 ; in New W. 39, 

87, 107, 155, 167. 
Fane Family, 107, 109, 110. 
Farm of town {see Quinzime) . 
Farmer, Mr., 213. 
Farncombe Family, 39, 99, 130, 163, 

167 ; arms of, 167. 
Farnham Family, 147. 
Fee farm rents of town, 53, 199 ; for 
Higham, 170 ; the Rev. Thomas Cur- 
teis pays the 2d, 3d, and 4th rents, and 
not Mrs. Curteis, as in 170 n. 
Felon, acquittance of, 219 ; right to har- 
bour, 15. 
Felony in foreign, 223 ; escape of, 223. 
Feme, covert recognizance and fine by, 

220; impleaded, 222. 
Ferry, 29, 41, 85, 108, 165, 206, etseq, 
Oxney, 206 et seq, 

marsh. 111, 189, 190, 228, 230. 

gate {see Pipewell Gate). 

house, 231, 236. 

salts, 231,236. 

Feversham, 72. 

Thomas de, 84. 

Fitch, Peter, 88. 

Fights, naval {see Naval engagements.) 

with Yarmouth men, 117, 118. 

Finch, Family of, 59, 88, 104, HI, 115, 

119, 120, 136, 146, 158, 159, 204, 207, 

209, 210, 237 n. ; arms of, 159. 
Fines, levying of, 197, 220. 
Firebrand, the, 227, 234. 
Fireworks at coronation, 196 n. 
Fish, tithe of, 140 ; sent as presents, 

202, 203. 
Fishery, Yarmouth, 117, 196 n. 
Fischampe, Abbot of, grant of Old W. 

to, 3 ; possessions in Sussex, 3 n., 5 n. ; 

manors given to, in exchange forW., 

11, 12; privileges granted to, 12 n. ; 

complaint of, 65 ; patron of churches, 

141. 
Flanders, 56, 57, 58, 71, 74. 75, 79 n, 97, 

98, 156, 237 n. 
Fleet, Cinque Ports, 8, 60, 62, 66, 67, 

69, 82, 101, 104, 105, 110, 156. 
Fleet (Ditch), Kettle, 41, 42; St. Leo- 

nard's, 41, white. 4^^^gj^ 



Flemish Ships stopped, 69* 70, 210. 

Flemyng, Peter, 203 ; Robert, 206, 208 ; 
Walter, 210. 

Flesher, Simon, 103. 

Floatage ground, 236. 

Flood-gates, evil caused by, 187. 

Florins, exportation of, 68. 

Foard atte Family and place, 22, 162. 

Fodyr, the, 103. 

Folde, William, 210. 

Folkstone, 183. 

Font, 128. 

Fonte-Arabia, 63. 

Foreign debtor, arrest of goods, 221. 

Merchants expelled, 102 ; not to 

be in streets at night, 94, 210. 

felony in, 223 ; buying and sell- 
ing in, 225. 

Foreigners required to be in houses at 
certain hours, 202, 210. 

Forestalling, 93. 

Fowey, 72, 102, 116 ; gallants of, 73. 

Framlin^am, 162. 

Franchise, lord of a, distraining a 
portman, 225. 

Frayes, 198 n. 

Freemen, 194, 220, 221, 222, 226; non- 
freemen fined, 194 n. 

French, naval engagement with, 8. 

attacks by, 69, 70, 80, 81, 88, 

101, 129, 143, 204. 

cruelties by, 80, 81 . 

attacked by Cinque Ports, 82. 

men of Winchelsea 



and Rye, 91. 

ship arrested, 210. 



French Court, manor of, 158. 

John, 97, 100. 

Fre^ren, Thomas, 187. 

Friars, Black, 38, 149 ; windmill, 39 ; 
orchard, 40, 111, 228, 232; house 
founded, 67, 149 ; new house of, 150 ; 
lands of, 108, 111, 150, 152; release of 
rent to, 151 ; quarrels of, 67 ; bene- 
factors to, 150, 151 ; grant of site, 
151. 

Gray, founded In Old W., 15; 

removed to New W., 37, 40, 144 ; well, 
38 ; lands of, 109, 149, 235 ; house of, 

, 144 ; benefactors to, 146, 161 ; grant of 
site, 147 ; of Lichfield, 145 ; London, 146. 

Froissart, description of battle off W., 74. 

Fuller, Thomas, 148 ; Walter, 234. 

Furze Banks, 40, 198 n., 229, 234 n., 236. 

Fyshlake, Robert, 208. 

Fysshe, John, 104. 

Fynnes, William, 207. 



Gallows HiU,40, 198 n., 231, 235. 
Gannok, Thomas, 205. 
Gaol, 113, 237. 
Gaoler, 192, 196. 
Gardener, John, 206, et seq. 
Garrison of Camber Castle, 176, 177, 

178. 
Gascony, 55, 63, 156. 
Gate, Roger de, 208, 209 (see also atte 

Gate). 
Gates (see New Gate, Pipewell Gate, 

Strand Gate). 
Gaveston Piers, 24. 
Grefirey, John, 94. 
George, St., Gate at Canterbury, 165. 

Church of, at Brede, 141 n. 

German dance, 75. 
Gemeys, John, 205. 



INDEX. 257 

Giles, St., Church of, in Old W., 15; 
in New W., 37, 40, 143, 202, 203; 
churchyard, 43, .81, 143, 198 n., 210: 
windmill in, 39 (see also Parsonages). 

Glinde, John, 85 ; seal of, 86. 

Gloucester, Earl of, 17, 23, 79 n. 

Duke of, 103. 

Godfrey, Family of, 39, 66, 100, 103, 
163 ; arms of, 166 ; chantry, 130 ; in- 
scription to, 137 ; land called the, 132 ; 
Sir Edmund Berry, 164 ; Thomas, diary, 
164, 212 ; expenditure, 165 ; Thomas, 
land of, 173. 

Gkddsborough, Sir John, 79 n. 

Groldspur, hundred of, 173. 

Goldyne, Matthew, 204. 

Goods, true men*s, seized, 223. 

Gotes, John, town clerk, 203, et seq. 

Gough, A. D., 122, 125, 127. 134 n. 

Gouldsmythe, Robert, 108, 110. 

Governor, 65. 

Grandison, Sir W., and Isabella his 
wife, exchange with Edw. I, of Iden 
and Higham, 29, 32, 33, 168. 

Grange, the, 54, 183. 

John, 207. 

Grants, Edward 1, for new town, 31 ; 
Elizabeth, to town, 108, 149, 152; 
Henry VII, to Guldefords, 168, 169 ; 
Henry VIII, to Clyfford and Welbore, 
147, 151 ; James I, to Guldefords, 169; 
Charles II, to same, 170 ; by corpora.* 
tion, 198 n. 

Grass, price of mowing, 166. 

Gray, George, 240. 

Greene, Thomas, 212, 213. 

Greens, Cook's, 38, 230, 232 ; situation 
of, 40 ; windmill at, 39, 112 ; bowling- 
green at, 166. 

King's, 35, 36, 38, 108, 148, 

149, 228, 235 ; littie King's, 235. 
■ St. Leonard's, 231, 236. 



Greenwich, 63, 108, 167, 170. 

Gregory, St., altar of, 26. 

Grestein, abbey of, 152. 

Grevt, Thomas, 100. 

Greye, Margaret, widow of William de, 

66, n. 
Grig Family, 88. 

Grind Pepper Well, {see Strand Well.) 
Grofherst, Richard de, 84. 
Grove, William atte, 206. 
Guestling, Court of, 203, 208, 209, 213, 

217 n., 249 n. 

hundred or fee of, 5, 11, 42. 

lands in 4, 158, 171. 

Guldeford, East; parish of; 181. 
GuLDEFORD Family, 107 n, 113, 116, 

141, 168, 181, 187; arms, 168. 

Haddock, John, 154 n. 

Hailsham, 131. 

Hales, John, 187. 

Halle, John atte, 205. 

Hall, court or town, 40, 1 13, 202, 205, 233. 

Jews or Trojans, 40, 113, 229, 234. 

Westminster, 9. 

Ualliwell, Robert de, 60. 

Hall's Chronicle, extract from, 175. 

Hammell, 198 n. 

Hanequin, gallant act of, 78. 

Hans Merchants' Complaints, 104. 

Harbord, Sir Charles, 180. 

Harbour in Old W., 9 ; in New W., 36, 
83, 106, 162, 176, 180, 182. (See also 
Rye, Dover, Cuckmere, Arundel, and 
Chichester.) ^ i 

Digitized by VjOOQ IC 



258 



INDEX. 



Hareourt, Mrs., 111. 

Harrenden, Matthew, 110. 

Harri, Robert, 303, 905. 

HarriB, Rev. John, D.D., 41, 40, 142 a. 

Harrod, George, 234. 

Harwich, 59. 

Hastings, Hugh de, 71 ; Sir Matthew, 

19, 114 a. ; Vincent de, 6 ; William de, 

114 a. ; William, Lord, 141. 
Hastings, Rape of, 160. 
Habtinos, Town of, 209. 

St. Leonard's, part of, 3, 12, 



188, 243. 



burgesses in, 5 a. 

— W. added as member of, 6. 

— reserved to F^amp, 12. 
— — mayor of, 203. 

~ retam for, 204. 

church of St. Clement, at. 



12 a., 141a. 

All Saints, 141a. 

St. Mary's Chapel in, 15. 

men of, 18 a., 117. 

hatchet held to, 18 n. 

ships of, 54, 55, 59 a., 72, 182. 

freemen of, 86 a. 

bomt, 90. 

harbour, 183. 

riot and prison breaking at. 



196 a. 



land-tax of, 198 a. 



Hatchet held up to men of W., 18 a. 

Haukham, lands called, 131, 132. 

Hayes, John, heirs of, 228, 231. 

Hayles Abbey, Gloucestershire, 27. 

Haymond, Sir P., 178. 

Heathfield, 167. 

Hedges, Sir Charles, 214 n. 

Hein, proceedings with, 221. 

Heldb, John, arms, &c. of, 95. 

Hempstead (Kent), 107 a., 169, 170a. 

Henden, Edward, 172. 

Heneage, Sir Thomas, 161. 

Henbt I confirms privileges and grant 

to Fischampe Abbey, 3. 
II lands atW., 5 ; grants charter, 

6, 63 ; seized of town, 6. 
Ill, resumption of town by, 3, 

11; state of town temp., 8; stays at 

durine Barons' war, 17. 
VII— grant to Gnldefords, 168, 

169. 
VIII— grants sites of dissolved 

Friaries, 147, 151 ; builds Camber Cas- 
tle, 175. 
Heabebd or Herbert {$ee Finch). 
Herde, John, 204. 
Hereford, Earl of, 117. 
Heringod, Nicholas, and Sybella his wife, 

160. 
Hermitage, the, 41. 
Herrings seized, 104 ; pickled, 207. 
Hertbume (Huckeburo), 13, 14. 
Hesel, Stephen, 22. 
Hidney, 54. 
Hicham, Hill of, 1, 39; site of New 

Winchelsea in, 29 ; ditch of, 39 ; bridge 

of, 39 ; tenements destroyed, 85 n. ; 

imbanking, 104 ; bailiffs of, 1 14 n., 168 ; 

manor of, 168, 173 ; marsh of, 67, 168. 

Petit, 34, 54, 108. 

William de, 66, 69. 

Highways in New town, 44, &c. 
Hipegne, Thomas, 61. 
Hoad, Joseph, 223. 
Hockernam, Thos., town clerk, 227. 
HoGS, pannage for, 4. 



Holdenne, Robert, 205. 

Holford, Thomas, 148. 

Holinshed, extracts from, 8, 13, 19. 

Hollanders* goods, 101. 

HoLLiNOBEBT, Rcv. Drake, 111, 236; 
family inscriptions to, 138, 139. 

Hollington, 167. 

Holloway, William, 3, 6, 11, 176. 

Holt Rood, Hospital of, 37, 40, 112, 
153, 230, 231, 235. 

Hopad marsh, 41. 

Hopyare, Edward, 210. 

Horn blowing, mode of calling assem- 
blies, 196 a. 

Home, Matthew de, 59. 

Horse Head tavern, 229. 

Horses embarked, 83 ; hire of, 205 et seq. 

Horsey, 131. 

Horsham, 163, 196 a. 

Stephen de, 85. 

Hospitals at, 153 (aee also St. Bartho- 
lomew, Holy Rood, St. John's.) 

small pox, 112. 

HousEHOLDBRS in Old W., 5 ; in New, 
44, 107, 113. 

Hovedon, Mr., 198 a. 

Hnddlestones, 162. 

Humphrey's Record of Black Prince, 79 n. 

Hundred Court, 1 92. 

Hunter, Thomas Orby, 232, 240, 243. 

Huntingdon, Earl of, 69, 79 n. 

Htthe, harbour of, 182; mayor of, 178; 
ships of, 55 ; vocber of, 20. 

Hyll, John, 103. 

Icklesham, land in, 22, 153, 160 ; New 
town built in, 29; compensation for 
tithes of, 31 ; ditch of manor of, 41 ; 
partly within jurisdiction of W., 42, 198; 
church of, 110, 122, 161, 171 a. ; new 
church in, 171. 

Idkn granted to Edw. I, 29. 

Iham, manor of (see Higham.) 

Imbanking (see embanking). 

Importance of, in Saxon days, 3 ; Nor- 
man days, 5. 

Inhabitants at founding New town, 44. 

Inning marshes, 181, 182, 184. 

Inscriptions in church, 137. 

Insula, John de, 60. 

Inundations (1236), 9; (1250), 13, 14; 
(1287), and destruction of Old town, 20; 
(1404); 94. 

Ipetot, William, 102. 

Ireland, king's men of, to repair to W., 8. 

Iron, transmuting into copper, 120. 

Isabella, wife of Edw. II, grant to, 168. 

Isted, Thomas, town clerk, 213. 

Italian crape, manufacture of, 121. 

merchants expelled, 102. 

Ivegod, seal of, 16 n. 

Jackson, Benjamin's widow, 231. 

Jacob, Henry, 59. 

jJakeman, John, 205. 

James I, grant to Guldefords, 169. 

James, St., of Compostella, pilgrunages 
to shrine of, 98. 

Jeake*s description of Old W., 1,2; deri- 
vation of name, 2; resumption by crown, 
1 1 ; destruction of Old town, 20 ; build- 
ing Newtown, 34 ; attack on town, 101. 

S., jun., 148, 243. 

Jenkins, Edward, 232, etseq^ 

Jenkins, Thomas, 227, 231. 

Jews, expulsion of, 20; hall, 40, 113, 
229, 234. ^ , 

Digitized by VjOOQ IC 



INDEX. 



259 



John grants charter, 6, 64 ; state of town 

temp., 7 ; staffs at W., 7. 
John St., College, Cambridge, 164. 

field, 229, 235. 

hospital of, 37, 40, 109, 163, 

227. 
Jones, Richard, 243. 
Jordens, inscriptions to, 137. 
Jurats, 59, 192, 194, 195, 218. 
Jurors on inquisitions, 69, 98, 172, 173. 
Jury's Gut, 42. 

Katherine's, St., Well, 38. 
Kenilworth, 18. 
Kent Dike, 173. 

Earl of, 205. 

Ketae Fleet, 41,42. 
King's Mede, or Green {see Greens). 
Kinton, Alan, 96. 
Kirkcudbright {see Skymburnesse). 
KnatchbuU, Sir N., 178. 
Knight, John, 232. 
Knighthood, writ of, 105. 
Knights, cross-legged, supposed monu- 
ments of, 132. 
Knolles, Robt. de, sails from W., 83. 

Labourers' Wages (see Wages). - 

Laddemarsh, 84. 

Lamb Family, 86, 167, 234. 

Lambarde, extracts from, 35, 107, 191. 

Lambard Family, 164. 

Lamps in St. Thomas' Church, 110; in 
Icklesham, 110. 

Lancaster, Thomas, Earl of, 25 ; Earl of, 
rebellion, 65 ; Duke of, 77, 78, 79 n. 

Land, meadow at W., 4 ; alienation of, 
226; the Maries, 16; plea of, 222; 
quantity of, titheable, 140; taken for 
new town, 35, 43. 

Land Gate (see Pipewell Gate). 

Land-marks, 122. 

Land-tax of Hastings, Rye, and W., 198n. 

Land's End, 183. 

Lane, Deadman's, 81, 198 n; Pooke, 41, 
231,232,236. 

Lang, Thomas, 205, etseq. ; William, 205. 

Langherst, John, lands taken, 43 ; Robert 
de, 66. 

Langley, 131 ; marsh, 236. 

Large, Richard, 68, 72. 

Larking, Rev. Lambert B., 22 n. 

Last age of W., 156. 

Lasts of beer, 206. 

Latimer, Lord W., 83, 92 n. 

Laws of Romney Marsh, 93; Winchelsea 
(see Customal). 

Le.Bochery, windmill at, 39. 

Leere, William, 234. 

Lcgg,Mr. 112. 

Leicester, Earl of, 187. 

Leland, account of building New town, 34; 
of Camber Castle, 176. 

Lemovicencis, John, 134 n. 

Lene, 56 n. 

Lenon, Sir Stephen, 241.' 

Leonard's, St., near W., part of Hast- 
ings, 3, 104, 108, 110, 168, 188 ; votes 
for Hastings, 188, 243; preserved to 
Fischampe, 12, 188 ; church of, 3, 37, 
111, 191 ; rectory of, 191 ; fleet or ^tch, 
41 ; well and charm, 38, 41 ; included 
in walls of W., 65 ; boundary of, 111, 
188, 199 n. 

figure of St., at church, 191. 

Green, 231, 236. 

Leucate of Pevensey, 54 n. 



Lewes, battle of, 17. 

Lewisham, 157. 

Lewknors, 48, 116 ; arms of, 199. 

Liberty of St. Leonard's part of Hast- 

ings, 188 ; Winchelsea, 41, 42. 
Library, Whittington's, in London, 146. 
Lichfield, house of Gray Fpars, 145. 
Life and Member, proceedings in plea 

of, 222. 
Lighthouse at Old W«, 9. 
IdLNEN, English Company, 121. 
Littlehampton, 183. 
Little King's Green, 235. 

London, 107. 

Liverpool, 186. 

Lloyd, Thomas, 148, 232 to 237. 

Lodewyke, John, 208. 

Logane, Simon, 98. 

LoNDENAYS, Family of, 39, 88, 104, 163, 

205 ; seal, 39 ; arms of, 163. 
London, 71, 72, 93, 96, 97, 182, 202, 

204, etseq,, 217 n, 224, 225. 

Little, name given to W., 107. 

Gray Friars of, 146. 

Long, John, 88 ; William, 150. 
Longleat, Wilts, 161 n. 

Louis, W. directed to compound with, 
7, 8 ; attacks Dover, 7, 8 ; Rye, 8 ; 
Windsor, 8. 

Love, Andrew, 110; John, 109, 110. 

Lower, Mark A., 199. 

Luce, town of, attacked, 82. 

Lucy, Robert, 176. 

Lydd, 163, 178, 207, et seq, 

Lymington, 186. 

Lyndrigge, Alicia, 103 ; John, 210. 

Lyons', Dover, extract from, 218. 

Maidstone, Viscountess, 161. 

Maliphant, Richard, inscription to, 138. 

Maukesey, 131. 

Mansfield, Lord, judgment of, 215. 

Manuitactures, 120. 

Map of Camber Salts, 173; new town, 

36, 111; Rye harbour, 184; St. Leo- 

nard's, 188, 190. 
Maplesden, Richard, 234. 
Marble, Sussex, 123, 124, 127. 
Maries, land called the, 16. 
Maritbau House, 112; Mr., 112, 121. 
Markets, Mondays, 38, 40, 109, ill, 

148, 228, 230. 

little Mondays, 38, 40, 234. 

Saturdays, 117. 

Marie, Bartholomew, and Alicia his wife, 

95. 
Marsh, Brewer's, 190, 191, 230, 236; 

Camber, 169 ; Denge, 66 ; Dymsdale, 

4; East Wytenham, 157; Ferry, ill, 

189, 190, 228, 230; Guldeford, 181 ; 

Higham, 67, 168 ; Hopad, 41 ; Ladde, 

84 ; Longley's, 236 ; Morley's, 228, 

236; North, 42, 84; Northmarey's, 

11; Padiham, 42; Pear-tree, 236; 

Pewes, 41 ; Roothe, 84 ; Romenal, 21 ; 

Romney, 93; Rushey, 189, 190, 191; 

Spadeland, 60, 84, 85 ; Stone, 153 ; 

Tillingham, 157; Whitefleet, 41, 104 ; 

WaUiut-tree, 230, 236 ; Wittersham,187. 
Marshes, inning, 181. 
Martello towers, 42. 
Marten Family, 167 ; Edward, 227, 

230, 241 ; Thomas, 215, 232 ; William, 

188, 232. • 

Martin, Henry, 236. 
Martin, St. (see Battle, Dover, and 

Seals). 



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260 



INDEX. 



Marthemme, Edward, 203. 

Mart, Qaeen, 162. 

Mart, St., Chapel of, in Hastiags, 15. 

in W., 123, 131. 

at Grayfriars, 146. 

Masters of ships, 55, 59, 62, 68. 
Matthew of Paris, 14, 169. 
Maafe, Mr., and Johanna his wife, 61. 
Mayors, 59, 66, 94, 104, 192, 195, 202, 
203, 204, etseq,, 218, 226 ; grass mayors, 
239 n. 

list of, 237. 

deputy, 193, 213. 

Mays, Thomas, 236. 

Meadow land at, 4. 

Meat, price of, in 1609-10, 166. 

Mbdb king*s, 35, 36. 

Medehurst, Henry, 103. 

Medley iron manufacturer, 120. 

Melcomb regis, 186. 

Meleward Family, 55, 167. 

Melle, Andrewe, atte, 206. 

Menil, John de, ^7 n. 

Members of Parliament, wages of, 202, 

204, 208; list of , 244- 
Memoir of the Alards, 155 ; Sir T. 
Ck>lepepper, 65; Famcombes, 167; 
Godfreys, 163 ; Herberts or Finches, 
159 ; Londeneys, 163 ; Wm. Morfote, 
100 ; Ozenbridges, 162 ; Robt. of Win- 
Chelsea, 23. 
Men of W,, trespasses and wrecking by, 
9, 10, 18, 62, 63, 67, 104, 117, 118, 156 ; 
hatchet held to, 18 n.; excuse them- 
selves, 63 ; charter of liberties to, 63, 
95 ; summoned to consult on naval 
affairs, 7d, 71 ; attack French, 82, 
91. 
Merchandise, 226. 

Merchants of W., 59, 97, 98, 105, 106, 
166, 157. 

Brabant, 69, 157 ; Hans, 

104. 
Merton College, Oxford, 24. 
Messengers, wages of, 202, et seq, 
Michell, John, 208. 
Middleton, Dorothy, 110. 
Militia, county, 69, 102. 
Millbank, Great, 39, 40, 230, 236. 
Millstone, 41 {see also Windmill). 

water, 130. 

Miller, Rev. Robt., 154 n. 
Millner Family, and arms of, 147. 
Mint at Old W., 3. 
Minton's tiles, 127. 
Mockett, Christopher, 108, 109. 
Money exportation (see silver). 
Monopolists, expulsion of, 243 n. 
MoNTFORD, Simon, commits custody of 
Cinque Ports t6 his son, 17 ; with his 
wife is feasted at W., 18. 

Simon, jim., joins pirates 

at W., 18. 
Montjoye, borough of, 95. 
Monuments in St. Thomas' Church, 132. 
Mordaunt, Hon. J., 243. 
Morehall, 160. 

Morfote, William, 100, 101, 103. 
Morley, Mr., 179; marsh, 228, 236. 
Morris, John, lands taken, 35, 43. 
Mortmain for masses, 131, 220. 
Mory, Richard, and Joan his wife, 87. 
Mostardo, Robert, 210. 
Mot Family, 167. 
Mowing, cost of, 166. 
Moyle, Adam, 109. 
Murage grants {see Walls). 



Name, derivation of, 2. 
Namur, Lord Robert de, 75, 78. 
Naval engagement, temp. Henry 111,8. 
of Edw. Ill with 



- off Beachy Head, 



Spaniards, 74. 

186. 
Naveneby (Lincolnsh.) exclianged for W. , 

12. 
Neighbor, Thomas, 109. 
Nesbit, Alexander, 232; Arnold, ill, 

121, 214, 217, 232, 243. 
Netherfield, 207, 210. 
Neville, John Lord, 83. 
Newcastle, ships to be at, 58. 
Newendbn, Edward the First's seat at, 

54 ; watercourses from, 182. 
New Gate, 34, 37, 93, 199 n. 

field, 235. 

haven in France, 162 ; Sussex, 183, 

185. 

well, 38. 

Newman, SirR. W., Bart., inscription to 
family of, 138. 

Samuel, 148, 191, 228, 230. 

New WiNCHELSEA, building of, 29 ; 
writ to assign places in, 30 ; charters 
for founding, 31 ; squares or quarters, 
39 ; extent of, 41 ; boundary of liberty, 
41, 42 ; streets and highways, and 
names of parties to whom places as- 
signed, 44 ; importance of town, 54 ; 
ships of {see Ships); Edw. I visits, 35, 
56; charters confirmed by Edw. II, 63; 
walls repaired^ 65 ; attacks on, 69, 70, 
80, 81, 88, 91, 101 ; ships at siege of 
Calais, 72 ; ship-building at, 72 ; naval 
engagement off, 74 ; roadstead, fleet in, 
83 ; commons petition for repair of, 92; 
repaired, and Pipewell gate rebuilt, 95 ; 
pilgrimages from, 98 ; barges stationed 
at, 101 ; sea shore claimed, 103 ; sea 
retires, 104 ; town decays, 104 ; allow- 
ance for ships of, 105; benevolence, 105; 
merchants forsake, 106 ; inhabitants 
petition council to restore harbour, 106; . 
Elizabeth visits, 107 ; modern state,l 11; 
statistics, 113, 140 n., 166; bailiffs of, 
115; to Yarmouth, 119; ecclesiastical 
foimdations, 122 ; hospitals, 153; fami- 
lies in, 39, 87, 107, 155, 167 ; harbour 
of, 180 ; new harbour proposed, 187 ; 
corporate history, 192; list of mayors, 
237 ; barons at coronation, 239 ; par- 
liamentary history, 241 : list of mem- 
bers of parliament, 244. 
Nicholas, St., chantry of, 103, 123, 130. 
NichoU, John, 240. 
Nonj]: Inq. 86, 87, 167. 
Norden*s description of Old W., 2. 
Norfolk men killed, 118. 
Norman times, importance of W. in, 5. 
North Mareys* marsh, 11. 
Northampton, Earl of, 70, 79 n. 
Norwich, 121. 

Notices of persons {see Memoirs.) 
Novaille, Mr., 121. 

Oath of mayor, 218: freemen, 220. 

O^iame, Edward, 189, 190, 191. 

Officers of corporation, 102. 

Offington, Hamo of (abbot of Battle), 
gallant conduct of, 89, 91. 

Old WiNCHELSEA, site of. 1 : granted 
to abbot of Fischampe, 3 : importance 
of, 5 : added to Cinqae Ports as mem- 
ber of Hastings, 6 : state of, temp. 



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INDEX. 



261 



John, 7 : ordered to compound with 
Louis, 8: state, temp. Hen. Ill, 8: 
arsenal and lighthouse, 9 : resumption 
by crcwn, 1 1 : bounds of, 11 : murage, 
grants for, 13 : storms at, 13, 14, 20 : 
churches in, 14 : Grey Friars in, 15 : 
hospitcd and property in, 5, 16 : barons* 
war, 17 : royal visits to, 5, 17, 19, 20 : 
feasts Montford, 18: piracies at, 18: 
attacked by prince Edw. for, 19 : state, 
temp. Edw. I, 19 : destruction of, 20 : 
families in, 22. 

Ore, John de, 85. 

Orlaston, Agnes, widow of John, 96. 

Orwell, ships sent to the, 66. 

Otham Abbey, 160 n. 

OxEXBRiDGB Family, 39t 158, 162. 

Oxney, isle of, 186. 

ferry, 206 et s'eq. 

Packham field, 40, 235. 
Padiham marsh, 42. 

Stephen de, 84, 85. 

Pares, Mr., 230. 

Page, John, and Petron. his wife, 156. 

Panel bridge, 207. 

Paradise house, 40, 112. 

Pardon, charters of, 69, 80. 

Paris, Matthew of, 14, 159. 

Paris, siege of, 81. 

Parker, Richard, 110. 

Parle, John, 1 10. • 

Parliament, members of, expenses,204, 

208. 

list of members, 244. 

Parliamentary History, 241. 

Pamell, Mr., 190. 

Parsonage House, 40, 140, 143, 229, 

236. 
Patcham, Vamcombe in, 167. 
Patron of borough, freemen made only 

to support his interest, 192, 195 n. 
Patronage of St. Thomas, 141, 169: 

St. Giles, 143, 169 : St. Leonard, 191 : 

All Saints and St. Clements, Hastings, 

and St. George, Brede, 141 n. 
Paulin, Family of, 22, 55, 59, 61, 66, 

115, 118, 119, 120, 156. 
Paveley, Sir John, 82. 
Payn, Reginald, 60» 
Pearce, George, 187 : Robert, 109. 
Pear-tree marsh, 236. 
Pecks Family, 107, 108, 110. 
Pdham, Edward, 172 ; Thomas, 172, 211. 
Pell, Morris, 231 (see also Bell Morrice.) 
Pelsham, 159. 
Pendents of Hill, 40, 53, 149, 227 et seq. 

236. 
Penecester, Stephen le, 30, 42. 
Penitential chapel, 129. 
Penn, William, 243. 
Pennifather Family, 167. 
Perhamme, John, 206. 
Perison, John, 206. 
Pestilence, 73, 105 n., 112. 
Peter's Haven attacked, 91. 
Peters, John, 232. 
Petit-Iham, 34, 54, 108. 
Petitions for repair of harbour, 185, 186. 

of Lieut.Carr for Camber, 180. 

Pet, Morris, 199 n., 236. 

Pett, decayed wood found at, 4. 

part within jurisdiction of W., 42, 

168, 198. * 
Peybnsey Castle, 183, 207: f^reemen, 

86 n.: harbour, 185 : lands in,100, 157 : 

leucate of, 54 n. : ships of, 54. 



Pewes, the, 34, 40, 41, 81, 235. 
Pews in church, 123, 128 n. 
Philip of France, 7 : of Spain, 162. 
Phillippa, queen of Edw. Ill, 79. 
Phillips, John, 20 n., 141 n. 
Philipson, R. B., 243. 
Philpotts, 199 91. 

Pigram, Capt. Nath. Ill, 148, 191. 
Pilgrimages to St. James, 98. 

PiPEWELL, 38. 

Pipe well Gate, 34, 37, 92, 95> 199 n., 
230. 

■Bridge, 81,85, 189. 



Piracies, 18. 

Piscina, 123. 

Pistons, John de, 156. 

Pixie, John, 108. 

Places assigned to householders in New 

town, 44. 
Play-going, price of 1610, 166. 
Pleas, holding of, 219, 226 : receiving, 

221 : ofdebt and covenant, ib. : of land, 

222 : of life and member, ib. 
Plumer, John, 147. 
Plymouth, 62, 72, 100, 102, 118. 
Po]e>.de la, 68 ; arms of, 152. 
Polebergh (Pulboro'), 12 n. 
Fonts field, 198 n. 
Pooke lane^ 41, 231, 232, 236. 
Poole, 120, 186. 

Reginald, 175. 

Poor Rate, 113, 140 n., 166. 

Pope Family, 167. 

Population, 41 n., 113. 

Port of, a convenient communication 

with France, 5, 97. 

importance of, 54, 83, 96, 100, 101. 

trade of, 114 n., 205, 210. 

Porter Family of, 94, 98, 99, 179. 
Portland, isle of, site of Vindelis. 1. 
Portsmouth, 7 n., 66, 68, 91 > 100, 182, 

186. 
Portus Novus, placed at W., 2. 
Pot, silver, given to St. John*8 Coll. Cam. , 

164. 
Pound, driver, 192. 
Poupart, Jean, seal of, 130. 
Pox, small, 112. 

Poynings, Sir Adrian, accident to, 162. 
P6ECEPTORT of St. Anthony, 152. 
Predicant Friars {see Friars, Black.) 
Presents, fish sent as, 202, 203. 
Prison, 113, 237. 

breaking at Hastings, 196 n. 

Proclamations at W., 68, 70, 71. 
Promhill («tfe Broomhill.) 
Property at W., temp. John, 5 : Henry 

III, 16 : in new town assigned, 44 : 
temp. Edw. I, 61 : temp. Edw. II, 66 : 
Edw. Ill, 86: Rich. II, 94: Henry 

IV, 95 : Henry V, 97 : Henry VI, 103 : 
in 1763, 111 : value, 1815, 113. 

Provisions, price of, 165, 205, 206. 

Prun, Walter, 210, 

Puddle Creek, the, 41, 169, 176, 182,210. 

Pulham, Godard, 101. 

Purse Cutting, 223. 

Pykammyll, 85. 

Pyl, Walter, 59. 

Pypes of beer, 206. 

Quarters {see Squares). 

Quarter Sessions, 197. 

QuiNziME, accounted for, 6, 104, 105 ; 

farmed, 12, 13, 61. 
tolls levied on archbishop's 

men, 20. 



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262 



INDEX. 



Railway, South-Eastera Company, 188. 

Rakle, John de, 67; Walter de, 59. 

Raleigh, Sir Walter, 183« 

Ramkblie, manor of, 3, 5 n. 

Rates, Poor, 113, 140 n, 106; eoonty 
rate, in nature of, 198. 

Rayman, William, 213. 

Reckham, Robert de, 15fir. 

Record, Conrtof, 197. 

Recoyeries, levying, 197» 220. 

Rectors of St. GHles, 143 ; St. Leonard, 
191 ; St. Thomas, list of, 141. 

Reotort of St. Giles, 143 ; St. Leo- 
nard, 191 ; St. Thomas, 139. 

Ree River, 34. 

Regiments, 14th and 69th, reviewed, 180. 

Register, Pariah, 143. . 

Relfe House, 228. 

Religious Houses, 144 {tee Friars, 
Black and Gray). 

Religious and townsmen quarrel, 67. 

Rent, distress for, 224. 

fee-farm, 63, 170, 199. 

king's and town's, 227» 232. 

Request, Court of, 197. 

Resumption of W. by Crown, 11. 

Review of I4th and 69th regiments, 180. 

Reynolds, Thos., and Joan his wife, 97. 

Richard I, grants charters, 6, 63. 

Richards, Rev. Thos., inscription to, 139. 

Richardson, John, 230. 

Richmond, Earl of, 78. 

Riot at Hastings, 196 n. 

Rivers, 21, 34, 118, 187. 

Rivulet Dymsdale, 4. 

Roads from Higham bridge, 39 ; towards 
Udimore, 36, 37 ; to Battle, 39 ; of Cop 
Greys, 93. 

Roadstead, 83. 

Robert of Winchelsea (Arch, of Canter- 
bury), arms and memoir of, 23. 

Robertsbridge, 17, 66, 180. 

Robynhod, Thomas, 206. 

Rochelle, ship of, 210. 

Rockley, George, 109' 

Roger, Thomas, 69. 

Rokesle, Gregory de, 42. 

Roman town ? whether, 1. 

ROMENAL, 9, 21. 

ROMNET, 1, 21, 56, 63, 178, 182, 186, 
206, e^ $€q.y 212, 213. 

marsh, 93. 

' Rood, Holy {see Holy Rood). 

Roothemershe, 84. 

Rother river, 2V, 187. 

Rouen, arnw at, 7, 98. 

RouNDLE Piece, 40, 111, 189, 190, 191. 

Tower, 36. 

Rudgwick, 12^ n. 

Runts, Welsh, price of, 1610, 166. 

Rushey marsh, 189, 190, 191. 

Rye, added to Cinque Ports, 6, 54 n. j 
arsenal at, 9 ; attacked by Louis, 8 ; by 
French, 69, 88, 91, 101 ; bailiffs of, 
114 n., 168; bay of , 2; bells of, reco- 
vered, 91 i charter of liberties to, 63 ; 
church of, 3 ; £dw. Ill lands at, 82 ; 
fleet sails from, 83 ; freemen of, 86 n. ; 
harbour of, 42, 104; 106, 129, 168, 171, 
176, 180, 181, 182, 184; land-tax of, 
198 n. ; resumption of by Crown, 11 ; 
ships of, 54, 55, 59 n., 62, 68, 72 ; town 
of, 86, 92, 93, 107 n., 154 n., 179, 197, 
198 n., 202, 203, 204, 205 ; wrecking by 
men of, 63. 

Sackville Family, 132, 146, 151. 



Sacristy, 125. 

Saffinon garden, 198 n., 228, 234. 
Salaries of Officers, 195, 196, 202. 
Salehurst, 160 {$ee also Silverhill). 
Saleme, John, 209 ; Simon, 203. 
Salisbury, Earl of, 79 a. 
Salmanbury, hundred of, 12. 
Salt pans, &c.,4, 14, 120. 

- price of, 166, 205. 

Salts, Camber, 169, 182; ferry, 231, 

236. 
Salutation Tavern, 40, 228, 232. 
Samson, John, 229, 231. 
Sanctuary, 219, 223. 
Sandhurst in Kent, 169. 
Sandwich, 56,65 a., 67, 69, 71^ 73, 79 n, 

96, 97, 99, 182, 183, 212. 
Sans, Isle of, attacked, 82. 
Sargent, William, 234. 
Saxon times, importance of W. in, 2, 3. 

mint at W. in, 3. 

Scarborough, 93. 

Scharp, Robert, 96. 

Schools, none, 114. 

Scot, Robert, and Petronilla his wife, 94. 

Scots, wars with, 58 et seq. 

James, king of, 98; Robert de 

Brus, 62. 

Scoultr (Gloucestersh.), exchanged for 

W., 12. 
Scrope, Henry de, 83. 
Seaford, ships of, 54, 72 ; town of 183. 
Sea retires, 104, 106, 107. 

shore, claimed by lord warden, 103. 

Seamen, wages of {see Wages). 

Seals of Ivegod, 16 n. ; Londenays, 39 ; 

John de Glinde, 86 ; Jean Poupart, 

130 ; preceptory of St. Anthony, 152 ; 

town of Winchelsea, 198. 
Sedilia, 123, 124. 
Sedlescombe, 103, 160. 
Sednor, Richard, 204. 
Seman, Benedict, 55, 59 ; Benjamin, 156 ; 

Walter, and Juliana his wife, 95 ; Wil- 

liam, 69. 
Sepulture, right of, in Old, 22. 
Sergeant at mace, 192, 195. 

t6wn, 192, 196. 

Sermon, John Wesley's last, in open air, 
154. 

Sessions, quarter, 197. 

Sewell, Thomas, 243. 

Shadwell, Wm. Lucas, 41, 227, 229 a. 

Sheep-shearers, wages of, 165. 

Shelley, John, 187. 

Shepway, court of, 156, 202, 203, 205, 
208 et 8eq,t 219, 226. 

Shields made from tree felled, 143, 210. 

Ship building at W., 72, 1 15 n.; at Apple- 
dore, 186 

Ships arrest of, 6, 94, 203, 209, 210. 

of Bulverhithe, Hastings, Rye, 

Seaford (see those places), 

of Winchelsea, 7 k., 54, 55, 69, 

60, 62, 68, 96, 97, 98, 114 n., 115 n., 
183, 203 {see also constables and mas- 
ters). 

fitting out, 205 et seq. 

Shipwreck of Sir T. Finch and others, 162. 

Shoreham, 9, 62, 167, 183, 185. 

Short, Mr., 229. 

Shorter, John Goldsworthy, 188. 

Sieltolond, manor of, 163. 

Silver, exportation of, 58, 68, 71. 

Silver hill barracks, 180. 

Simond, John, 203, 204. 

Site of Old W., l ; of New W., 29, 35. 



Digitized by VjOOQ IC 



IKDEX. 



268 



Skele, William, 94, 100, 203, 208. 

jun., 209. 

Skymlmmesse, ships to repair to, 58, 60, 

62, 67, 157. 
Slodgham, Le, 120. 
Slynfold, 12 n. 
Sluys, 74. 
Smith, Richard, land of, 173, 

Sir Thomas, 120 ; William, 205. 

Snelham, 16. 

Richard, 98. 

Sneppe, John, 205. , • 

Snergate, 155, 156, 158, 207, 209. 
Soggs, 199 n. 

Somerset, Duke of, array, 102. 
Somner, extracts from, 2, 21. 
Sotherden, Mr. 174. 
Soutliampton, 72, 82, 96, 97* 

Lord, 180. 

Spadeland marsh, 60, 84, 85. 
Spaniards, Armada, 182 ; attack by ? 

93 ; naval engagement with, 74. 
Spencers, the, favourites of £dw. II, 24. 
Squares, town divided into thirty-nine, 

39, 227, 232. 

identification of, 40, 111. 

Bear or Barrack, 111. 

Sqnire field, 228, 230, 235. 

Stace, George, 233. 

Staffield, Mr. 191. 

Standen, Abednego, 213. 

Standing, Mrs., 213. 

Steininos (Steyning) manor of, held by 

Fischampe Abbey, 3 n., 12 ; privilege 

to church at, 12 n. 
Stapley Family, 107, 110. 
Stateley, Widow, 229, 231. 
STATISTICg, 113, 140, 166. 
Stephens? map of town, 36, 111. 
Stewart, John, inscription tOj 137. 
Stileman, Richard's heirs, 233, 234; 

Richard, 36, 41, 149, 198 n.; family 

inscription to, 139 ; arms of, 149. 
Stone, Capt., 186 ; William, 191. 

in Isle of Ozney, 186. 

Stone Rock House, 228, 233. 
Stonmersh, 153. 
Storms (see inundations). 
Stow, extracts from, 89y 91. 
Strand Gate, 34, 37. 

WeU, 38, 41, 231, 236. 

Strangers not to be abroad, 94. 
Streets in New town, 44, &c. 
Strepe, 224. 

Suffolk men killed, 118. 
Summons against freemen, 222. 
Summer lands, 234. 

Survey of Camber salts, 172 ; Rye har- 
bour, 183 ; St. Leonard liberty, 188. 
Sw&ine, John, 229 ; lUehard, 68. 
Swallowe, Thomas, 108, 109, 110. 
Swinden's Yarmouth, extracts from, 118, 

153 n. 
Swiney, the, 118. 
Syon monastery, grants to, 3 n., II 7, 

188, 191. 

Tabbe, William, 103. 

Table credence, 123. 

Talbot, Lord, 97. 

Tam worth, John, 95, 100. 

Tan house, 230, 236. 

Tanning, 121, 227. 

Taverns, Firebrand, 227, 234 ; Horse's 
Head, 229; King's Arms, 213; New 
Inn, 111 ; Three Kings, 22/, 233 ; Sa- 
lutation, 40, 228, 232. 



Tayllor, Thomas, 204. 

Templars, knights, supposed tombs of, 
132. 

Temple, Capt. Peter, 178. 

Terrocene, battle of, 160 n. 

Terry FamUy, inscription to, 139 ; Charles, 
233. 

Teulon, Samuel S., 171. 

Thames, ships of the, 69. 

Thanet, Isle of, 21. 

Earl of (see Tufton), 

Theft, proceedings in, 223. 

Thetcher, James^ 172. 

Thetford, John, 206. 

Thogar Family, 66, 

Thomas, St., church of, in Old W., 15 ; 
last Vicar of, 15 ; church of, in New 
W., 37, 40, 92, 110, 122, 163; figure 
of, 125; rectory of, 139; rectors, list 
of, 141 (see also Parsonages). 

Thomond, Earl of, 243. 

Thondyrr, Thomas, 96, 102, 205 etseq, 

Thome, the, 228, 231, 234, 235, 236. 

Thorpe, John de, 83 ; Robert, 102. 

Three Kings' Tavern, 227, 233. 

Tidgwell, William, 229, 231. 

Tighlere, John, 150. 

TUden, George, 232, 233; John, 193; 
the, 241. 

Tiles found in church, 127. 

Tillingham, marsh of, 157, 

Tinker's garden, 40, 228, 234, 236. 

Tithes, 189; of boats, 15 ; fishery called 
"Christ's share,'* 140; of Stonmersh, 
153 ; commutation of, 41 n., 140. 

Tokeye, Thomas, 110* 

Toneman, Gervase, 60. 

Tounstalle, John, 206, et seq. 

Town clerk, 192, 195, 203, etseq,, 217, 

dues {see Dues). 

hall, 40, 113, 202, 205, 233. 

rents, 227, 232» 

Trade, battle of, 160. 

of port of W., 114n., 205, 210. 

Treasury, the patrons of borough, 243. 
Trecherie, the, 85. 
Tree, John Wesley's, 164. 
large, felled in St. Giles' Church- 
yard, 143, 210. 

Benjamin, 196». 

Tregoz, arms of, 29. 

lands of taken, 29, 35, 42. 

Treignon, Robert and Stephen, 160. 
Trespass and theft, proceedings in, 223. 
Trespasses by men of W., 9, 10, 18, 63, 

67, 104, 117, 118, 156. 
Treyford, 22, 155. 
Tristram, sons of, lands taken, 43. 
Trojan's HaU, 40, 113, 229, 234. 
Truncheons, 112. 
Tufton, Lord, 178, 187, 
Tunbridge, 17, 116. 
Tyson, John, 205. 

Udimore, Etchingham's house at, 54 : 
Edw. I visits, 56, 57 ; Edw. Ill visits, 
79 n. ; ferry to, 29 ; road to, 34, 37 ; 
town of, 86. 

Vale Well, 38, 41. 
Valois, Philip of, 70. 
Vannis, R. de Septem, 61. 
Vellard, John, 206. 
Vlan, Sir John, 91. 
Vicar of, last in Old W., 15. 
Vincent de Hastings, 6. 



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264 



IXDEX. 



Yyneente, ThoraaSi 109* 

ViNDRLis placed at W., 1, and note. 

Voting, right of St. Leonard'^ for 

Hastings, 188, 243. 
Voters, number of, 111, 241, 243. 

Wace, Jacob, 108. 

Wages of seamen, 55, 60, 62, 68. 96, 101 ; 
shipbuilders, 72; sheep-shearers, la- 
bourers, &c., 165 ; of Camber Castle 
earrison, 177: messengers, 202 ; mem- 
bers of parliament, 204, 208. 

Waleys, Henry de, 30. 

Waller, Sir Thomas, 178. 

Walls, .grants for, 13 ; of New town, 
34, 35, 65 ; repaired, 95 ; space con- 
tracted by, 96. 

Walmer Castle, 175. 

Walnut-tree marsh, 230, 236. 

Walsh, Thomas, 96 ; Mr., 230. 

Walsingham, Thomas of, description of 
new town, 35 ; extracts from, 57, 80, 91 . 

Waneway or Wenway creek and 
sands, 169, 173, 181. 

Warde, Robert, 209, 210. 

Warden, Lord, right to nominate a 
baron, 241, 247 n. ; claims sea shore, 
103 ; letters addressed to, 211, 214. 

Wardroper, Edwin, 188, 215, 217, 232. 

R., 36, 112, 215, 240. 

Wardship, 226. 

Warreyner, William, 206. 

Warwick, Earl of, 79 n. 

Waste, 224. 

Wastel, William, 204. 

Water-Bailiff^ 113, 192, 197. 

Waterman, Richard, 110. 

Weekes Family, 107, 110, 147. 

Welbore or Wildbore, Michael, grants to, 
147, 151. 

Welles, John, 110. 

Wells, Pipewell; St.Katherine*s; Grind 
Pepper, Strand, or Blackfriars ; New 
Well, 38 ; Vale Well, or St. Leonard's 
Well, and superstition with respect to, 
38, 190, 236. 

field, 236. 

Wentworth, Lord, 162. 

Werthe, William, and Isabella his wife, 
103. 

Wesley, Rev. John, last sermon in 
open air, 154. 

Wesley AN chapel, 154. 

West, James Eldridge, 141. 

Westbrook, 40. 

Westham, 94, 131, 157* 

Westminster, 56. 

convent of, 144. 

hall overflowed, 9. 

Wey, William, itinerary of, 100. 

Weymouth, 100, 186. 

Whatlington, 160. 

Whiblye, Richard, 109, 110. 

White Family, 107, 109, 110, 213. 

White, fleet or ditch, 41, 104. 

marsh, 43. 

Whitfeilde, John, 110. 

Whittington's library, London, 146. 

Whitton, Francis, 213. 

Wiard, 155. 

Wigg, Hugo, 110. / I 

Wight, Isle of, 89, 101. ' 

Wigsell, Lucy de, 158. 



Wilet landing at, 91. 

Wilford, or Wildforth Thomas, 177. 

William I confirms grant to Fisdiampe^ 

3 ; lands at W., 5. 
Willes, Rev. William, 137, 142, 189. 
Willingdon, 97. 
Willoughby, Lord Robert, 97. 
Wilmington, Priory of, 162. 
Wilson, Mr.. 217 n. 
Wiltshaw, Captain Thomas, ^184. 
Winch ELSE A', Old {tee Old Winchelsea). 
■ New, founding, &c. {see 

New Wjyichelsea). 

Countess of created, l6l. 

John de, 146 ; Robert de, 



23 ; Thomas de, 146. 

Windmills at, 39, 57, 108, 131, 188. 

Windows in church, 125, 126, 127. 

Windsor resists Louis, 8. 

Wine entries into port, 114n. ; dues for, 
205. 

Withernam, 224. 

Wittersham marsh, 187. 

Wood at W., 4 ; decayed found, 2 n ; re- 
mains of at Pett, &c., 4 ; for Fairlight 
Beacon, 202, 203. 

Henry, 109; Robert, 104. 

engravings. Camber Castle, 174 

-Campanile or bell- 



tower, 129. 



126. 



-Court-hall, 113. 
-Doorway in church. 



Ground plan of St. 

Thomas Church, 122. 

-Inscription on Pipe- 



well Gate, 95. 



-Round tower, 37. 



Sedilia, 124. 

TQes in Church 127. 

^\^^dow in Church, 

126. 

{See also Arms and Seals.) 
Woodland, Thomas, 110. 
Wool and woollen goods 68, 70, 102. 

tax on, 206, 208, 209. 

Worcester, Priory of, 26, 

Wormenhurst 3 n. 

Worth, Henry de, 204. 

Wrecking (see Trespasses). 

Wye, manor of, 159. 

Wymund Bartholomew, lands taken, 43 ; 

of Winchelsea, 6, 165 ; Paul, 212, 241 ; 

William, 213. 
Wynder, John, 203, 205. 
Wytenham, east marsh of, 157. 
Wyting Family, 68, 167. 

Yarmouth, bailiffs to, 119, 157, 160, 
202, 204, 207; fights at, 117, 118; 
fishery, 117, 196 n. ; houses in, belong- 
ing to St. John's hospital, 153 n. ; mur- 
der on' board vessel of, 156 ; town of, 
23, 93, 182. 

Yelling, Ro^^, 207* 

Yerde, Thomas, 102. 

Yland in Westham, 157. ? 

Yonge, Walter, 205 et seq, 

York, Duke of, review by, 180, 

Young, Mr., 229, 231. . 

Ypres, complaint of, 10. 

2^alander's goods seized, 101 . . 
>6 



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